The Hero of Olympus
by 1st Son of The Sea God
Summary: Takes place after The Mark of Athena. I will try to finish the Giant War in the first few chapters and then focus on my main idea, which is a Chaos story. Starts with Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus. Not good with summaries but I guarantee that the story will be original. This is my first fic. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first fanfic. I've read many PJO stories here on and wanted to write my own PJO fic. I couldn't wait for the House of Hades to come out so I decided to write my own ending to the Heroes of Olympus series. I've already written a couple of chapters and will edit and update them soon. I will probably update this story once or twice a week or even earlier if I'm free. This chapter is in Percy's POV. I will change POVs as needed. There is no particular order. If you have a question or suggestion, you can PM me or review. I would be more likely to respond to a PM but a review will also be greatly appreciated. No flames please!**

**Enjoy the story! :)**

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PERCY POV

I don't remember how long we have been in Tartarus.

The best I could figure was 2 weeks. But it felt like a lifetime.

The good news, we were still alive. The bad news, we were surrounded by monsters. It seemed hopeless, Annabeth's foot was still broken and I was more than exhausted. I was ready to drop dead. But somehow, I kept standing, riptide in one hand and the other hand clasping Annabeth's so that we were not separated.

We did not seem to tire at the same rate as we did in the outside world, but we had already been tired from the ordeal in Rome when we fell into Tartarus. Strangely, the fall hadn't hurt at all and at first, Tartarus had seemed almost peaceful – a barren wasteland with nothing in sight for as far as we could see. Then, the monsters began to come. In the beginning, there had been just one or two at a time but after a few days they started coming in larger groups.

Whenever we were not fighting, I was either running with Annabeth on my back or we were sleeping or rather trying to sleep. We barely slept in the last two weeks and I was at my breaking limit. We had been trying to get some sleep when we were swarmed by monsters of all types – hellhounds, dracaena, telkhines, laestrygonians, a few hydras and even a drakon.

I managed to push them back enough for them to make a circle around us. Annabeth and I stood back to back pushing back or killing any monster that came close. I don't know where monsters killed in Tartarus go to and I don't intend to find out. We held them off for a few minutes but we couldn't hope to continue this standoff.

Just as I was about to lose all hope, everything went dark, and I mean completely dark. I couldn't even see my own body even though I knew my eyes were open and I could feel Annabeth's hand in mine. I tried to slash riptide in front of me since the monsters might still be there but there was nothing. After what felt like many hours but was in fact a few seconds, the darkness lifted and there was no monster in sight.

Just as I was about to ask Annabeth if she was okay, a man spoke up to my left, "Perseus Jackson." I spun around to face the man and so did Annabeth. But what stood before me looked nothing like a man. He had the shape of a man but nothing else. He was completely black! And I mean pitch black. I couldn't make out any feature of his body except the whites of his half-closed eyes. But that wasn't the scary part. He seemed to radiate so much energy and power that I felt like I was melting.

Beside me Annabeth gasped. When he spoke, I could barely make out his lips moving, "I have heard a lot about you." Somehow, I found my voice, "Who are you?" "You should know your mythology by now, son of Poseidon, your friend seems to know who I am." I glanced at Annabeth, she was gaping at the man and didn't seem to be able to speak. That was new. I looked at the man again and went through the list of Titans and gods I knew of but none of them fit the description. That made no sense because only a Titan or a God could radiate this type of power.

I raised my sword and asked again, "Who are you?" "Why I am darkness itself, I am Erebus." Comprehension dawned on me, I was looking at the primordial deity Erebus, the true God of Darkness. "But, y-you faded, di-didn't you?", I spluttered out. Annabeth finally found her voice, "No, he just disappeared. Nobody has seen him since forever." She was still staring at him as if she couldn't believe her own eyes. Erebus looked amused but it was difficult to make out his face, let alone his expression.

"Yes, I decided many millennia ago to go into hiding, the world held no interest for me anymore. And what better place to hide than Tartarus itself. Tartarus even let me build my own domain here. I have been sleeping since then without any distractions. Even now I am not fully awake. All this business with the Doors of Death opening and Gaea beginning to stir has disturbed my sleep and I am impatient to go back to it. So, to speed things up, I am going to help you get to the Doors of Death."

I looked at him warily; I had yet to meet an immortal who would help us for free. "What would you want in return?" He seemed genuinely surprised with my question, "What could I possibly want from you? All I want to do is go back to my sleep and that can only happen when all this madness ends. Now come along and I will tell you how I am going to help you." With that he started walking.

I looked at Annabeth, she nodded. I started to follow him but, as I took my first step, I stumbled and fell. "Percy!" Annabeth yelled and knelt down next to me, wincing at her broken foot. I had forgotten how tired I was, I could barely stand. Erebus looked back surprised, "Oh yes! Forgive me." He pointed at us and two balls of pure darkness came towards us. One passed through my chest and the other through Annabeth's. For a moment nothing happened, but then I felt power course through my body, healing all my cuts and bruises and filling me with energy. After a couple of seconds, I felt as good as new. I looked at Annabeth and saw her jumping up and down testing her foot. Her foot was completely healed along with all her other injuries. I looked at Erebus but he already started walking again. I quickly got up and we sprinted after him.

When we caught up to him, he said, "I will take you to the Doors myself since that will be the quickest way." He snapped his fingers and a completely black portal-like thing opened up in front of us. We stepped into it and the next moment we were standing in a rocky corridor. I couldn't see any door in sight and looked at Erebus questioningly. He sighed, "I cannot transport you directly to the Doors since I do not want Gaea to know of my involvement. I do not wish to fight. I simply want to go back to sleep. Now, the doors are a little ways down to the right. As I understand, the doors need to be closed from both sides, so when you have cleared out all of Gaea's minions, I will come and close the doors from the inside while you do so from the outside. But, before all that, I want you to swear on the river Styx that you will never reveal it to anyone that I helped you or that you even met me. I do not want people to start looking for me."

This time Annabeth spoke up, "Why do you wish to continue sleeping? You could help us defeat Gaea once and for all. You are probably as strong as she is and she's not even fully awake." Erebus turned to her, "I do not wish to be involved in Gaea's affairs and I don't have any particular love for the world either. I am helping you simply because I wish to go back to sleep and also because young Perseus here interests me. He is one of the very few interesting people I have ever known and watching his life has been the most entertaining time of my very long life." Now i was confused, "Hang on, how were you watching me if you were asleep?"

He seemed amused again, "My young demigod, I am a primordial, as you people call us. Even in sleep I am aware of what goes on in the world to a certain extent." Annabeth looked disappointed that Erebus wouldn't help with Gaea but didn't push it.

Erebus simply said, "Now off you go," and disappeared. We looked at each other and then together we advanced down the corridor with our weapons drawn.

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**So, how was it? I'm not going to demand reviews for updates. I know how frustrating that is. I'll update within the week no matter what. but still, any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I decided to post another chapter today to explain everything that has happened in the world above since Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus. It's mostly a filler chapter.**

**I thank Aphrodite(Guest) for the review and my reply is that I don't think there will be much humor in this story partly because it's a more serious kind of plot and partly because I'm no good at writing humor. Thanks for the review though. ;)**

**There's no action and it's in Jason's POV. **

**Enjoy! :)**

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JASON POV

I am tired, as tired as I've ever been. It's been more than 3 weeks since we started from Rome to go to Greece to close the Doors of Death and defeat the Giants. I landed on the deck of the Argo II after battling Gryphons who had attacked us out of nowhere around half an hour ago. This was not uncommon. We couldn't go 2 hours in the air without another monster attacking us. We had tried to go by water but decided against it when the Argo II was almost capsized by a giant squid.

Frank landed next to me, changing from the giant eagle to human in mid-air. He collapsed, probably from exhaustion, and Hazel was immediately kneeling next to him with a canteen of nectar in her hands. I barely stopped myself from lying down right there and, instead, went looking for Leo to ask for a damage report. Piper handed me some ambrosia and nectar and told me Leo was in the engine room. I nodded and started walking towards the engine room.

I thought back to roughly 3 weeks ago when Annabeth and Percy had fallen into Tartarus. I still found it hard to believe that the two strongest demigods I knew were in Tartarus. Even with Nico reminding us again and again that he could feel that they were alive, I did not know how they could survive in Tartarus. Even now, after so long, Nico and Hazel both say that they are not dead. The thought that they were still alive and fighting for their lives in Tartarus gave me strength to keep fighting.

We were now nearing Epirus, where we have to close the Doors of Death so that we can defeat Gaea's army and the Giants. The Gods had promised that they would be there at Mount Olympus to fight against the Giants if we were successful in our mission to close the Doors.

When we had lifted off from Rome, the Goddess Athena had appeared on the ship and without a word, taken the Athena Parthenos with her. 1 day later we heard that the fight between the Greeks and Romans had been resolved before war between the two had broken out. Apparently, the Gods themselves had appeared at Camp Half-Blood, the Greek camp, just before the Romans were about to attack and has explained everything to the Romans. I do not know how they did this but now both Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter had joined forces. I don't think Octavian would have been too happy about that. They were now helping each other defend both the camps which had been attacked by 2 different armies of monsters. Surprisingly, there had been no Giants among these armies. It seemed like Gaea wanted all the Giants to attack Mount Olympus in Greece.

Both camps survived these attacks but Camp Jupiter was heavily damaged since most of the legion had gone to Camp Half-Blood to 'attack' them. By the time they got back, the camp was in ruins. Still, the monsters were defeated before they could cause much damage to New Rome. Camp Half-Blood had survived with some casualties and was in an overall better condition as compared to the Roman camp. I was really worried with this news. Camp Jupiter, my home, had been almost destroyed and I had not been there to defend it. Guilt and anger weighed down on me as I thought about this.

I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn't notice Leo coming out of the engine room and almost ran into him. "Whoa dude! Watch where you're going, will you?" "Leo, I was coming to talk to you. Can the ship keep going?" "Yeah man, it'll take a lot more than that to take out my baby, especially with the new additions." After leaving Rome, Leo had landed the Argo II in a deserted piece of land and had installed updates from the Archimedes sphere that he had found. Now, the Argo II was much faster and more stable. "Leo, give me an honest answer. Will we be able to make it to Epirus?" The reason why it was taking us so long to get there was because we had to stop twice for Leo to make repairs. Once, after the encounter with the giant squid in the water and once when a 50-foot long dragon had slammed into the Argo II in the air causing it to almost drop into the ocean. Leo looked offended, "Yes, we will probably make it to Epirus by tomorrow." I just nodded and went to my room to get some rest before another monster decided to attack us. I fell asleep as soon my head hit the pillow and I had a strangely dreamless sleep.

A few minutes later, I was being shaken awake by Piper. "Jason, wake up! We've reached Epirus." That woke me up. "How long have I been asleep?" "A whole day." "Why didn't anyone wake me up?" "Nothing major happened and we all figured that you could probably use the rest." I followed her out onto the deck. Everyone was already there and Leo was running around making preparations to land while Nico told him where exactly the House of Hades was. I looked down and was greeted by a peaceful view of the city. There was no sign of the Giants or any other monsters.

We landed in an empty field near the House of Hades and got down with our weapons out. Nobody paid any attention to us as they went on with their days. We cautiously advanced towards the large black gates of the temple for Hades where the Doors of Death were situated. Still, nothing attacked and there was no indication of monsters even being there. As we got closer, we could suddenly hear sounds of a battle going on inside the black gates. I looked towards Nico, confused. He just shrugged and moved towards the gates with his Stygian Iron sword in hand. We all followed. Just then, there was a scream from inside the temple, "PERCY!".

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**So how was it? Did I miss anything. **

**Oh and I've started a poll on my profile to decide who to pair Percy with in this fic. Please vote!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: OK I've got 1 review and 1 follow so far. As far as I know, that's awesome considering that this is my first fic. Thanks a lot. Here's the next chapter.**

**Enjoy! :)**

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PERCY

We crept up to the corner and peered to the right. What we saw before us confused me.

We could see the Doors of Death, huge double doors at least 50 feet high and 20 feet across. They seemed to be made of celestial bronze with traces of imperial gold, stygian iron and some silvery substance that looked like the silver used by the Hunters of Artemis. One of the double doors was slightly ajar.

The Doors were just 100 feet ahead but, in front of the Doors stood 2 beings. One was the Minotaur (seriously, he doesn't know when to give up) and next to him stood a man. But, this wasn't a normal man; he looked to be around 8 feet tall and didn't seem to be one of Gaea's sons. He had dull green eyes and black hair. He had 2 hunting knives in his hands and a bow slung over his back along with a quiver full of arrows. I had no idea who he was.

I looked at Annabeth but she looked confused as well. "Well, do you know who the man is?" She looked up, "I have a few ideas but I'm not sure." "This doesn't look right, shouldn't there be more monsters guarding the Doors?" She nodded, "I don't know where the rest are. Maybe they are on the other side of the doors. We should attack before more monsters join these two." "Alright, I'll take the Minotaur, you take the giant." She nodded and we moved in towards the Doors.

As soon as we came in sight, the Minotaur bellowed and picked up his double bladed war axe while the man just smiled. Somehow, the smile was more frightening than the roar. I walked towards the Minotaur while Annabeth moved off towards the man. He just smiled and waited.

Meanwhile, the Minotaur charged straight at me. Even after being killed by me twice, he hadn't learnt his lesson. I jumped to the side and he barreled past me harmlessly. He turned and charged again, swinging his war axe in both directions. I rolled to side and as he ran by, I stabbed him in the back of his leg with Riptide. He roared and swung his axe to cut me in half. I jumped straight up, stepped on his axe and somersaulted over his head. I stabbed him in the back as I came down, burying Riptide hilt-deep in the middle of his back. When, I turned around, he was already disintegrating.

I turned to look at Annabeth fighting with the man. She was using her dagger while he had his hunting knives out. Annabeth already had a few cuts along her arms but nothing serious. The guy was seriously fast. He wasn't even hurt yet. As I ran forward to help Annabeth, the man delivered a roundhouse kick to her temple and she crumpled. As he brought down his knives for the kill, I intercepted both of them with Riptide and pushed him back.

He regarded me with a smirk. "Hello brother." I stared at him. Why did I have so many shitty relatives? "Who are you?", I asked. He looked smug. "I am Orion, Son of Poseidon and the greatest hunter to ever live." I gaped at him. "But, didn't you die and get turned into a constellation by Artemis? And why are you working for Gaea?"

When he heard Artemis' name, his smile turned into a snarl, "Do not take that Goddess' name in front of me. She was the one who killed me and then turned me into a constellation, as if that would make everything alright. Gaea has promised me Artemis' head and that I will be the new God of the Hunt after the Gods fall. And they will fall. No one can stand against the might of Gaea. Now, little brother, I cannot let you pass so you can either fight me or just lay down your weapons and I will make it painless for both you and your girlfriend. I glanced at Annabeth who looked to be out cold. I turned to Orion and raised my sword, "I am not your brother."

He smiled again and then charged. He was fast! He almost killed me with his first strike. His knife passes within an inch of my throat. I managed to block most of his attacks and dodge the rest but I knew that I had to go on the offensive if I wanted to survive. So, when he swung his knives low, trying to slash at my legs, I flipped backwards and kicked him in the face. He, staggered back, momentarily dazed and I lunged forward, slashing and stabbing in an unorthodox mix of Greek and Roman styles that I had developed. I slashed at his shoulders and when he blocked my attack, I kicked him in the chest. He flew back and landed on his back. I kicked his knives out of his hands and put the tip of my sword on his unprotected chest.

Just then Annabeth groaned and I glanced back at her. The slight distraction allowed Orion to knock my sword sideways and lunge at me, a knife in his hand. Time slowed down, I leaned sideways and the knife passed harmlessly besides my face. At the same time I stabbed with Riptide. The next second Orion's knife fell to the ground and my sword was impaled in his side. I watched as he fell and slowly melted into the ground.

I capped Riptide and ran to Annabeth who was groggily sitting up. "Percy, what happened? Where's Orion." "Orion's dead." I held out my hand and she took it and stood up. "Well then where's Erebus? He said he'll be here after the monsters were dead." We looked around and as we did, the ground in front of the Doors split open and something huge crawled out of it. I recognized the monster from when I was 12 years old. We were standing face to face with the Chimera.

It looked even bigger than I remembered. I uncapped Riptide and looked at Annabeth. She already had her knife in her hand and was taking her fighting stance. Our eyes met and she nodded. Then, I raised Riptide and charged the Chimera while she moved sideways. It roared and shot a column of flames towards me. I just managed to roll out of the way and then slashed at its face. I managed to cut under his eye but that just made him angrier. He rushed me and almost took a bite out of me, but I managed to jump out of the way. Just then it stiffened and bellowed. He had completely forgotten about Annabeth who had snuck up behind him and cut of his tail serpent. I took the opportunity and stabbed him in the side, but he didn't disintegrate as I had expected. Instead, he turned around so fast, it was almost a blur. His head hit me in the side and I went flying. I rolled as I landed about 10 feet away and came up standing.

Annabeth had jumped onto his back and was holding on for dear life as he tried to throw her off. I ran forward and jumped straight up. I landed on his back next to Annabeth and together we plunged our blades into the back of the Chimera. It gave an ear-splitting roar and then staggered and fell sideways. We rolled off his back as he fell and he melted back into the Earth. We were breathing hard and my clothes were singed at the edges.

A black portal opened in front of us and Erebus stepped out of it. "Well done young heroes. That was quite a fight. Now, you should be able to slip out of the Doors and then close them from outside so that I can seal them from the inside." We walked towards the Doors and I saw that they were open just enough for the both of us to fit through. I turned to Erebus, "Thank you for your help, Erebus. We -", He waved his hand and stopped me. "I do not need your gratitude. Just finish all this madness as quick as possible." With that he motioned towards the Doors and I started walking towards with Annabeth by my side.

I couldn't see anything on the other side of the Doors except whiteness and when we passed through the gap in the doors, I was completely blinded for a few seconds. And then my eyesight cleared and I saw that were standing in a huge hall with black pillars.

There was no one around. We turned towards the Doors of Death behind us and tried to close them by pushing the door. We both put all our weight into it but it won't budge.

Suddenly, I heard a slight sound behind us. Before I could turn around to investigate, I was already flying back through the air and Annabeth was screaming my name.

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**So, how was it? I've never really tried an action scene before so please tell me how I did and if I missed anything. **

**I'll update again soon.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Here's another chapter. This one has a lot of action so tell me how I do. Also, only one person has voted on my poll for the pairing till now. I need votes to decide the pairing. I can only go a few more chapters before I have to reveal the pairing. So please vote!**

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FRANK

As soon as we heard the scream, I knew that it was Annabeth. That means that they had made it out of Tartarus and that they were in trouble. Without another thought, all six of us rushed forward and burst through the large black gates of the House of Hades into the courtyard.

But what we saw then made us stop cold. There, right in front of us, was an army of at least a 100 monsters. There were dracaena, empousa, hellhounds, laestrygonians, the Nemean Lion, a nine-headed hydra and then, at the back of the small army of monsters, was a monster more terrifying than anything I have seen before. It was a dragon so big that it looked as big as the House of Hades itself. It was around 100 feet long with scales all over its body and razor sharp spikes along the length of its back. It had large red eyes and curved black horns on its head. It had claws that looked sharp enough to cut through anything and anyone. It did not have wings and was more like a very, very large serpent.

We looked at each other and I could see fear in everyone's eyes. The monsters looked just as surprised as we were to see us but then the huge dragon at the back roared and they all attacked.

The next few minutes were a blur. We waded into the monsters hacking and slashing anything within reach. The dragon just stayed back and did not attack. After disintegrating a few hellhounds I changed into a big bald-headed eagle and flew into the sky.

I could see Hazel fighting an empousa and Jason trying his best to keep the Nemean Lion busy. Piper and Leo were fighting the hydra, avoiding its many heads. Nico had taken on a large group of dracaena who were surrounding him. I was about to fly over to help him when he suddenly kicked a dracaena back and raised his hand. He glowed with a scary black aura and yelled something that was lost in the sounds of the battle. Suddenly, all around him, the earth split open and skeletons clad with armor and weapons climbed out and started attacking the dracaena. Within minutes the whole group was a mound of golden dust. Then I heard a yell and turned around to see Jason hit the ground hard. I realized I had been in the air for a while, just staring at Nico.

I dove at the Nemean Lion who was moving towards Jason for the kill. I raked its eyes and landed in front of Jason, turning into a fully-grown grizzly in mid-air. The Lion lunged and I charged to meet him. I swiped at its face and although its skin was impenetrable, the force of the strike was enough to send it flying. I was joined by Hazel, who had a nasty cut on her cheek and Jason stood up groggily, a large welt on the back of his head. Nico ran to help Leo and Piper with the hydra, his group of skeletal warriors right behind him.

Hazel and Jason raised their swords and charged at the Nemean Lion who looked dazed. Jason brought down his sword on its neck. The blow should have killed it if not for its impenetrable hide. His blade just bounced off. I ran forward and slammed into its side. The force was enough to topple it over. When it was trying to get up again, Jason pointed his sword at it and yelled. Thunder rolled and a lightning bolt that lit up the sky struck on top of the Nemean Lion. It bellowed in pain and then collapsed, steaming. It melted into the ground, leaving a lion pelt behind.

I changed back into my human form and turned towards look at the hydra. Leo's whole body was one fire and whenever Piper or Nico managed to cut off one of its heads, he would shoot a stream of fire straight at the stumps to stop it from growing more heads. We ran forward to help but even as we reached them, Nico cut off the last head and Leo held up both his hands with palms facing the hydra, blasting it with fire. The monster disintegrated into gold dust as we looked on. Nico slumped down and the skeletons broke apart into bones which sunk back into the earth. Leo's fire went out and he just stood there, grinning like crazy. Piper was breathing hard and had a few cuts. Nobody seemed to be seriously injured.

Then we heard a ground-shaking roar behind us. We had forgotten about the dragon. We turned around. It was still in the same place it had been. Only now I realized there was a big door behind it and it seemed to be guarding the door. Piper squeaked. "Oh crap! That's the Colchian Dragon." Jason's eyes widened but the rest of us just looked confused. The name seemed familiar but I couldn't place it. Piper sighed, "It's the dragon that used to guard the Golden Fleece before Jason, the original Jason, defeated it for the Fleece. It hasn't been seen since then and if its guarding that door, then there's no way we're getting in there without killing the dragon. It's supposed to be always watchful. It never sleeps or rests and doesn't get distracted." The dragon just sat there, looking at us. But it did not attack. "Why isn't it attacking?" "It will only attack if you come close to whatever it is guarding, in this case the door behind it."

Then we heard another yell that seemed to come from somewhere behind the dragon. "The Doors of Death must be on the other side of that door." Jason looked to Piper, "How did Jason defeat it?" Piper shook her head, "I don't know. Nobody does. I'm not even sure if Jason did defeat it. There are different versions of how he got the Fleece." Jason stared hard at the huge beast. "Well then I guess we'll find out on our own." With that said we all spread out and moved towards the door from different directions. The dragon sat there, waiting, staring at each of us. When Jason got within 30 feet of the dragon, it growled but still didn't move. Then Leo, who was on the far right tried to make a run for the door when the dragon was looking the other way. It twisted with amazing speed and opened its jaws and a raging inferno of flames shot towards Leo. It hit Leo head on and I thought he was a goner. Hazel screamed, "LEO" Jason yelled and charged the dragon. When the dragon turned towards Jason, I saw that Leo was still standing there, unscathed. He grinned and shot his own flames towards the dragon. We all charged. Piper and Hazel jumped onto its back and stabbed it with their blades. Nico and Jason were trying to keep it busy by attacking it head on, but it kept blowing fire causing them to jump or roll to the side. Leo was hitting it repeatedly with fire but it barely did any damage. I ran forward and jumped. I felt power course through me and my body changed mid- air, growing until I was a 40-foot dragon. I roared and lunged at the huge dragon in front of me just as it was about to snap up Nico. I tried to bite its neck but the scales were too hard. My whole body flew into the dragon and we both tumbled to the ground. The dragon roared again and then out of nowhere, its tail hit me in the side. I felt the spikes on its tail cut my side and bellowed in pain. The force of the blow was enough to throw me back at least 50 feet. I turned back into my human form when I hit the ground. The pain was too great. I looked down and saw that my side was drenched in blood.

The dragon kept on fighting. It was hardly damaged. Piper and Hazel had been thrown off and were now trying to stab its tail. Nico was commanding more skeletal warriors to attack the dragon from all sides. Leo was still blasting it with fire, though it was only making it angrier. Jason was now pounding it with lightning bolt after lightning bolt, but it wasn't enough. The dragon was smoking but it was still roaring defiantly and preventing anyone from getting close to the door. I slowly stood up. I couldn't change forms while I was injured so I took my bow from my back, and started firing arrows at any weak point I could see in the scales. We continued this for what felt like hours when suddenly the dragon swiped with his huge claws and both Piper and Leo flew back. "NO" Jason bellowed. He rose in the air and electricity crackled around him. He raised both his hands towards the sky and yelled. The lightning bolt that arced through the sky would have made Jupiter jealous. It hit the dragon square on the head. Electricity arced through its entire body. It shuddered once and then fell sideways, slowly disintegrating. Jason ran towards where Piper and Leo had fallen. Nico and Hazel were gaping at him. I too was in awe. The way he had taken out the dragon was scary.

We all ran towards Piper and Leo. Piper was already trying to get up but Leo was out cold. He seemed to have hit his head on a pillar. Jason helped Piper up while Hazel knelt next to Leo and trickled some nectar into his mouth. I tried to ignore how close she was to him. We had bigger things to worry about. After a few moments, he coughed and opened his eyes. "Did we get him?", he croaked. "Yeah we got him." Jason answered. Hazel then ran to me and started fussing about my wound. Nico came over and handed me some ambrosia while Hazel patched up the wound. We could hear the sounds of fighting from inside and I said, "Come on. We need to get in there." With that, I started running towards the big door.

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**Well, how was it? Was the action good or should I try to add more details to it?**

**Review! **

**Also, sorry if I give too many cliffhangers, I can't help it. :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Alright so here's the next chapter. I thank the people who took the time to vote on my poll for the pairing. Right now I have 3 votes for Annabeth and 2 votes for Artemis. That's it though. Please people, I need more votes. Other than that, enjoy the chapter.**

**Oh and I forgot to add the disclaimer for the previous chapters so consider this as a disclaimer for the previous chapters as well as this one: I do not own PJO or HoO. I only wish I did.**

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PERCY

I am seriously mad right now. I mean, we can't seem to be able to catch a break. First there had been the Great Prophecy, then this Prophecy of the Seven. We fell into Tartarus for crying out loud. Why couldn't anything be easy for once? Even now, we had been so close to closing the Doors of Death but Leon had chosen that exact moment to check on the Doors. Leon was this big 20-foot tall lion-headed giant who had been killed by Heracles in the first Giant War.

Now, as I tried to distract him so that Annabeth could sneak up behind him, I looked around for a source of water.

Despite his size, Leon was fast, faster than I had anticipated. So, I spent most of my time dodging and blocking but was able to give him a few cuts on his legs and arms. When I saw that Annabeth was in position I rolled sideways while going forward, ending up next to Leon's leg and I slashed at his leg right behind his knee forcing him to his knees. Annabeth jumped up onto his shoulders and plunged her knife hilt-deep into the side of his neck. Leon yelled (or roared) in pain. He tried to grab Annabeth but she just jumped off of his shoulders and landed next to me, leaving her knife buried in his neck. I jumped forward, just as he turned, and stabbed him in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain. I then launched a vicious attack on him, letting out all my anger and resentment. I kept slashing and stabbing, golden ichor flying everywhere. Blood was pounding in my ears and it felt good to let out all the anger that I had been bottling up.

I don't know for how long I continued but suddenly Leon roared again and I paused for a moment. Leon was on his knees and looked like he was bleeding from his whole torso and face. His body seemed to be flickering like a bad projection. He gave me a look of pure hatred before punching the ground. He disappeared into the ground as if he had been sucked into a vacuum or something. Only then did I realize that I was sweating profusely and covered in ichor.

I looked towards Annabeth, who was breathing heavily and staring at me. "He isn't dead is he?" I asked. She shook her head. "No, we can't kill a giant without the help of a God. But it looked like he was going to fade and it takes an intense amount of pain to force an immortal to fade. I don't think a giant has ever faded before and I don't think you need the help of a God for that but the amount of strength needed to force a giant to fade would be too much for anyone other than a God.", she said with wide eyes.

I then heard a squeak behind us and whirled around, ready to fight when I saw that six people stood by a door on the other side of the hall. With a start I recognized all of them. It was the other five from the quest along with Nico. "Thank Gods, you guys are alright."

When I walked towards them I noticed that all of their mouths were open and they were staring at me. "Why are they staring at me?" I asked Annabeth. She just rolled her eyes and smiled. I waved my hand in front of their faces, "Hey guys is everything alright? You guys seem pretty banged up." That seemed to bring them back to their senses. There were cries of relief as everyone greeted us and hugged us.

Then Jason spoke up, "We're alright. What about you guys? How did you make it out of Tartarus?" "Oh…umm…." I couldn't tell them about Erebus. I was trying to come up with something that would be acceptable when Annabeth spoke up, "We're fine, we found a shortcut in Tartarus and when we finally got to the Doors of Death, we made a friend who agreed to help us close the Doors from inside. But, we couldn't close them from outside on our own so come on, we need your help." They all seemed surprised but looked like they accepted the story. Well, everyone except Nico whose eyes narrowed. He was about to say something when Annabeth glared at him. He shut up and we all ran to the Doors of Death.

We put our shoulders to the door and pushed. The door moved for a couple of inches and then stopped. It wouldn't budge. We all dug in our feet and pushed for all we were worth but the Door wouldn't move. Then Frank told everyone to back up. I understood what he was about to do and pulled Annabeth back.

He backed up about 20 feet and then ran towards the Door. He changed mid-stride into the animal he knew best – a fully grown ten-ton elephant, and crashed into the Doors of Death. The building shook with the force of the crash. With a deafening groan, the Doors closed. As soon as they were completely closed, they glowed black and then they disappeared. Just like that, the Doors of Death were gone who knows where.

There was a flash of light and we turned around to find the God of Death, Thanatos himself, standing before us. Jason, Piper and Annabeth gasped since they had not met him before. The rest of us merely stared at him. Then he spoke in a smooth voice, "I thank you young demigods for closing the Doors of Me. I can assure you now that the monsters that are killed will stay dead, at least for a few decades. Now, you should make your way to Mount Olympus. I believe that the war has already started." With that he disappeared.

We looked at each other. The war was beginning. We all ran to the doors on the other side of the hall, trying to get to the Argo II as fast as possible.

But, as soon as we left the House of Hades, there was another flash of light and this time, Athena stood before us. "Mother", Annabeth said. Athena looked like she was in hurry "The battle has begun. Are the Doors of Death closed?" "Yes mother, the Doors are closed. The monsters that die now won't reform for at least a few years." "Good then, let's go." She snapped her fingers and the next moment, we were standing at the foot of a tall mountain that seemed to go into the clouds.

All around us, a battle was raging. Athena turned to us, "Go help your Godly parent or any other God that looks like they need help." With that, she charged the nearest Giant, Annabeth glanced at me once before running to help her mother.

I looked around, trying to find my dad. One by one, all my friends ran off, either to help their mom or dad or another God. There were around a hundred Giants ranging from 15 feet tall to 40 feet tall. All the Olympians were there along with a number of minor gods and goddesses including Hecate, Morpheus, Nemesis and Nike. Even Phobos and Deimos were fighting a Giant side by side.

Most of the campers from Camp Half-Blood seemed to be there along with a few campers from Camp Jupiter. Many of them were fighting off monsters but the rest were helping the Gods against the Giants.

Then I saw Dionysus crash into the ground and Eurytos standing over him, both Pollux and Dakota doing their best to hold him off. Since I couldn't see my dad anywhere, I ran towards Eurytos and slammed into him, slashing Riptide across his back. As he yelled out in pain, Dionysus recovered enough to throw his thyrsus straight at the Giant, impaling him in the neck. At the same time I stabbed him in the side and slowly he disintegrated into ashes. Dionysus nodded at me and together with his two sons, ran towards another giant.

All around me Giants and monsters were disintegrating. A few of the demigods and Gods were injured but thankfully no one seemed to have died yet.

The next few hours were the hardest of my life. It was like the Battle of Manhattan all over again. I waded into hosts of monsters, killing everything in my path, I helped Gods and Goddesses kill Giant after Giant and kept looking for my father.

Finally, I saw him along with Zeus and Hades fighting Porphyrion, the king of the Giants. By now, all the monsters had been killed and most of the Giants were dead too.

I started towards Porphyrion but then I heard a scream to my left and saw Artemis lying on the ground, Gration standing over her. Apollo was too busy with Leon, who seemed to have healed from our fight earlier, to help and the Hunters were mostly unconscious. I looked around for Thalia but she was nowhere to be seen. I changed direction and ran towards Gration. He raised his hunting knives to land the final blow on Artemis but I threw Riptide like a throwing knife and it embedded itself in his right shoulder. He yelled in pain and dropped the hunting knife from his right hand. I kept running and scooped up Artemis, who was in bad shape with cuts and bruises all over. I left her on a rock a few feet away and turned towards Gration.

He was able to pull out Riptide from his shoulder and throw it behind him. I raised my hand and felt the familiar tug in my gut as water burst out of the ground and hit him in the face. He fell back from the force of the water, spluttering. I felt Riptide return to my pocket but did not take it out yet. I charged at him as he struggled to stand up. He was still on one knee when I jumped straight up, stepped on his knee and jumped over his head, taking out Riptide in midair and landing behind him, facing his back. I stabbed him in the back, right where his heart should be. Riptide was buried hilt-deep into his back and he screamed in agony. Suddenly 3 or 4 silver arrows sprouted from his head and he fell to the ground, disintegrating. I saw Artemis standing there with bow in hand. Most of her injuries were gone and I saw Apollo tending to some of the unconscious hunters. Artemis just stared at me for a second before turning and running towards Porphyrion, who was now fighting 5 Gods along with 4 demigods.

Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Ares and Dionysus were flying around him in their respective chariots, attacking him from different directions. Porphyrion was huge! He was over 40 feet tall and he was glowing with power. Even the five gods together along with Jason, Thalia, Nico and Clarisse couldn't defeat him.

I ran towards him too, following Artemis. Zeus, Jason and Thalia were all hitting Porphyrion with lightning but it had little or no effect, other than burning his hair. Ares and Clarisse were attacking him head on while Dionysus was making vines grow around his feet, trying to trap him. Hades was hitting him with blasts of purple energy and Nico was summoning wave after wave of undead warriors to attack Porphyrion. My dad was hitting him with jets of pressurizes water, the force of which was making him stumble.

Artemis summoned her chariot, and as soon as she was in the air, she started peppering Porphyrion with arrows.

I stepped forward to attack when suddenly everything went black. I heard a sleepy voice in my head that I knew was Gaea's "Congratulations, young hero, you have fought bravely today and managed to kill many of my children. But now I must awake. Be honored Perseus Jackson, you shall be my host until I can achieve my full power."

Just as she stopped talking, I felt pain unlike any I had ever felt before. It felt like my body was being cut into small pieces very slowly with Kronos' scythe. It was a thousand times worse than holding up the sky or bathing in the Styx. I tried to scream but no sound came.

My eyes fluttered open and I stood up but I was not in control of my limbs. I saw the Gods trying to overcome Porphyrion but everything had a red tint to it. I couldn't move a muscle. This was not like the time when eidolons had possessed me when everything had been fuzzy. Now, I could see everything clearly but I had absolutely no control over my body. My body felt like it had been dipped into boiling oil and then dumped into freezing water. I tried with all my strength to regain control of my body or at least move a muscle but I was completely powerless.

And then I spoke, but it wasn't my voice, it was Gaea's, "Awake at last!".

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**Well, how was it? Plenty of action in this chapter. Sorry for the cliffhanger but like I said, I can't help it. Hope you liked it. R&R.**

**Also again, please vote on the poll for the pairing for this story.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: OK so first of all, I have decided that there will NOT be a Percabeth pairing in this story. Sorry to all those who wanted it to be Percabeth but I just think that it's been overused and I wanted to do something different. Don't worry, I won't use the same Annabeth-cheats-on-Percy-with-his-half-brother plot. I've removed Annabeth from the poll but I've added another couple of choices. Also, I appreciate people putting their choices in their review but it would be better to vote on the poll. Even people who do not have fanfiction accounts can vote so please vote. **

**Anyway, here is the next chapter. It's from Annabeth's POV.**

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ANNABETH

I was fighting with my mom against the Giant Pallas. Most of my siblings had already been knocked unconscious and I was really tired.

We have been fighting now for at least a few hours and Pallas showed no sign of stopping. I had come up with a strategy that I usually use when Percy and I are fighting together. I had been in mental contact with mom ever since the fight started so I mentally told my mother to attack Pallas head on and keep him busy while I sneak up on him from behind.

All the complex strategies that my mother had devised so far had failed, so why not try a simple one for a change. My mother agreed and lunged straight at Pallas with unbelievable speed with her shield and spear in hand. I started moving sideways when I was sure he wouldn't notice. I crept up behind him and caught my mother's eye. I nodded to her. This was similar to what we had used against Leon and I hoped it would work.

My mother rolled to the side and slashed Pallas' knee, bringing him to one knee and I leapt up on his back, scrambling up to his shoulders with my knife in hand. As I expected, he immediately jerked backward and when he stopped I stabbed my knife into the side of his head. At the same time, mother buried her sword hilt-deep in his stomach. Without a sound, he slumped sideways and disintegrated into dirt leaving behind his skin. My mother pointed at it and it vanished.

Then she looked at me and the look in her eyes made it all worth it. The look was pride. My mother Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom and Battle Strategy, was proud of me. There was nothing that compared to the feeling I was having now. Then she turned to her right and I, too, turned to see what she was looking at.

I saw Porphyrion holding his own against 5 Olympian Gods and 5 demigods. But when I focused on the demigods, what I saw made no sense. Percy seemed to be attacking the other 4 demigods – Jason, Thalia, Nico and Clarisse. I looked at my mom and she was just as confused as I was. Together, we rushed forward towards Porphyrion.

When I got closer I knew that the 4 demigods stood no chance. Percy was in full battle mode, as he liked to call it. He whirled and slashed at the 4 of them, who were on the defensive. I could tell by their faces that they were just as confused as me and were trying to say something but they were too busy holding off Percy's constant attacks.

Suddenly, he kicked Jason in the chest and slammed his hilt on Clarisse's helmet in the same move. He then hit Thalia in the side of the head by the flat of his sword and disarmed Nico. In less than 2 seconds, he knocked out 3 of the most powerful demigods I knew and had the 4th one at his mercy. He was about to stab Nico in the heart when I screamed, "PERCY!" That startled him and for a moment his sword arm went slack but then it stiffened again and stabbed downwards. But, the momentary distraction had given Nico the time to shadow travel out of reach.

I ran towards him, ignoring my mother's warning shout. He whirled around and I faltered. His face was twisted into the most horrible snarl and was filled with hate. But, there was something else wrong. His eyes! Instead of the usual sparkling sea green, they were brown, almost red.

Then he spoke and instead of Percy's beautiful voice, it was an ancient and powerful voice, the voice of a woman, the voice of Gaea. "Ah Annabeth, how nice of you to join us. I have always wanted to make this worthless sea brat kill you with his own hands."

No. No. No. NO! This can't be happening to me. Didn't Gaea need the blood of two of the seven of the prophecy to rise?

I then realized that when Gaea saw that her plan wouldn't work, she did what Kronos had done to Luke. Gaea had taken control of Percy's body.

Why me? Why my Seaweed Brain? What had I ever done to deserve this? I felt tears spill from my eyes and, although I could hear the Gods fighting Porphyrion, I didn't care.

I remembered what had happened to Luke when Kronos had taken over his body. You couldn't kill one without killing the other. The only way to make Gaea leave his body was to kill him. And I knew the Gods wouldn't hesitate to do it. But then I remembered that Luke had fought against Kronos. In the end he had been able to overcome him for just enough time to kill himself. That gave me hope. We could find a way to save Percy.

I looked up to see Percy looming over me. "Percy listen to me. I know you can hear me. You have got to fight her. You can defeat her. You can win. You can put her to sleep." Percy just sneered at me, "Do you really believe that a mere demigod can overpower me? Especially when I'm fully awake. Although I must say that Jackson is hardly any demigod. I did not expect him to be strong enough to be my host. Still, I am not Kronos. I cannot be defeated. I will rule once again." Then he raised his blade as if to strike me when, out of nowhere, Jason was at my side. He deflected Percy's blade and started fighting again.

By now all the Giants and monsters had been defeated and 12 Olympian Gods along with Hades were fighting Porphyrion. But, he seemed invincible. Every time he got hurt, he healed up almost instantly. All the minor Gods were too tired to help or temporarily dead.

Percy kicked Jason again and then yelled, "STOP!" The one word held so much power that everything and everyone, including the Gods, stopped. Then Percy started floating in the air and rose up above Porphyrion's head. The Gods still didn't know what was happening and just stared at Percy. Then he spoke, "I have finally awoken. Stop this foolishness of yours and bow to me. I may yet show some mercy. You cannot defeat my son. Your greatest hero is now mine. You have no hope of winning. Give up now and I will let you live."

Everyone was dumbfounded. Zeus spluttered, "Ga-Gaea. H-How?" At the same time Poseidon yelled, "NO! MY SON!" Then Zeus regained his composure. "I BOW TO NOBODY! ATTACK!" Everyone surged forward but Gaea yelled again and everyone, even the Gods, were thrown back by a wall of pure power.

I flew back 50 feet and landed on top of another demigod, which was good for me but not so good for the demigod. Most of the demigods were knocked out. Jason managed to save himself and Piper by controlling the winds. Frank turned into a huge eagle and caught both Hazel and Leo. Thalia was caught by Zeus and Nico shadow traveled in midair. All other demigods were unconscious.

The Gods were hurt too. All of their chariots had crashed into the ground. Zeus had jumped off and controlled the winds while Poseidon had summoned water to cushion his fall. Hades, like his son, had shadow traveled to the ground. Artemis had survived as well. She had simply jumped out of her chariot and landed on her feet. All other Gods had crashed with their chariots and seemed to be out of commission.

I looked up and saw Percy-Gaea breathing hard. She was still getting used to the body! He (she?) landed in front of Porphyrion who was now just sitting back to watch the show. Percy-Gaea slumped for a moment before straightening up and walking towards us.

4 Gods and 8 demigods, including me, were still standing. He had the same hateful expression on his face. "I will make each of you Gods fade and then I will torture your children till they beg for their death. I am Gaea and I will once again rule the world."

Zeus stepped forward with his master bolt in his hands. Hades raised his double-edged Stygian Iron sword, his Helm of Darkness giving off a terrifying aura. Artemis hesitated before she too raised her bow with 4 arrows nocked and pointed straight at Percy-Gaea. Poseidon, however just stared at Percy. The sadness in his eyes was heart breaking. In that moment, I knew he wouldn't be able to harm his own son just as I wouldn't be able to hurt Percy. The rest of the demigods too raised their weapons and advanced, leaving me and Poseidon in the back.

Percy-Gaea just smiled and flicked his hand. The next thing I knew I was flying through the air again. I crashed into a tree and felt a sharp pain at the back of my head. The last thing I saw before blacking out was that Artemis had somehow managed to stab her hunting knives in the ground and anchor herself. She was the only one standing in front of Percy-Gaea. Everybody else was knocked out. I thought I heard Gaea's laughter just before slipping into unconsciousness.

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**Well? How was it? Another cliffie! Sorry! **

**Please Review! **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Okay, the poll just has 4 votes for Artemis and nothing else. I know there are three votes for Thalia from the reviews. So currently there's just those two to choose from. I'll probably keep the poll for another chapter or two. You never know when some people may vote for someone else. **

**To all those people who reviewed, followed or favorited this story - Thank you! You guys made my day! :)**

**Anyway, here's the chapter. R&R! **

**Disclaimer: I keep forgetting to do this. I think I don't want to remember this but it can't be helped. I don't own Percy Jackson or any of the other characters.**

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ARTEMIS (Never thought I'd do a God's POV but here it is. It might be a bit OOC)

This could not be happening.

As I stood there, alone, in front of Gaea with my bow drawn and 4 arrows pointed at Perseus'- no, Gaea's chest, I knew this was the end. My whole family was unconscious and I could expect no help from anyone.

But, I am Artemis, the maiden goddess of the hunt and I did not plan to go down without a fight. I took a deep breath and as Gaea started laughing at me, I released the arrows. The dirt in front of Gaea exploded upwards and caught my arrows, burying them in the ground. I quickly summoned 4 more arrows and even as I lifted my bow, Gaea stopped laughing and pointed at me. My beloved bow and my symbol of power that I had been using for millennia splintered into pieces in my hands. This weakened me considerably. Still, I just threw the pieces away and went for my hunting knives but then realized that they were still planted in the ground. Even as I watched, the Earth swallowed them.

I looked at Gaea and noticed that she looked tired. She advanced on me but then stumbled. She cursed under her breath and muttered, "Stop fighting me." It was barely a whisper and I only heard it because of my heightened sense of hearing. That small phrase gave me hope. I knew that somewhere inside Perseus was still fighting. That gave me strength.

I grabbed my spare knife that I kept strapped to my ankle and charged. Gaea looked up in time and raised her hand. The ground exploded all around me and the next thing I knew, I was encased up to my shoulders in dirt. I couldn't move a muscle. I yelled in frustration.

Gaea advanced slowly and raised Perseus' sword. I could see Gaea's frown as she fought Perseus for control. There was the barest flicker of green in her brown eyes and the sword arm wavered. The sword was now pressed into my neck, with the pressure increasing. Golden ichor flowed from my neck as the blade cut into my skin and I saw Perseus-Gaea's eyes widen, "Impossible!" was the one word she uttered before she dropped the sword and screamed so loudly that it would have been heard all around the world.

The ground shook slightly and was then followed by the largest earthquake I have ever felt. Way stronger than anything even Poseidon had ever conjured. The sky darkened, lightning flashed, the wind picked up and it started raining heavily. The earthquake continued for a few seconds as Perseus-Gaea screamed. It was then that I realized that the voice was Perseus' and not Gaea's. Then I heard Gaea scream in agony as the earthquake became even stronger and the storm intensified. But Gaea's scream seemed to be coming from far away. Perseus was glowing with a green and blue aura tinged with gold that seemed somewhat similar to Poseidon's, even in power. Cracks as big as entire football fields opened up in the ground, lightning flashed as the storm picked up. Porphyrion, who had been gaping at Perseus-Gaea, gave a strangled shout as the ground split open beneath his feet and he fell into the crack. Then Perseus stopped screaming and the earthquake stopped as suddenly as it had started. The green aura disappeared, the storm stopped, the sky cleared up, the cracks in the ground closed up and the dirt surrounding me fell away. He glowed with a bright white light for a second before everything became silent and he stopped glowing. I looked up at the figure standing over me and got a glimpse of sparkling green eyes before his eyes closed and he collapsed.

I thought he was dead, which flooded me with fear. What? Why was I worried about a man's life? But even then I knew that he was no ordinary man. I saw that he was breathing and relief flooded through me. What is wrong with me?

But his breath was shallow so I got up and sprinted to where Apollo's chariot had crashed. He was unconscious but wasn't seriously hurt. So I just gave him a pulse of my energy and he sat up groggily. I told him to follow me and ran back to where Perseus was lying on the ground.

Apollo looked at him, "Did you….?" I shook my head. "I'll explain later. Just heal him for now." He nodded and shrugged. He held out his hand over his chest and sent some of his power pulsing through his body. He then looked up. "I'll have to take him back to my temple." Then he looked around, "Where's everyone else?" "Unconscious" was my reply. He looked shocked for a second before he stood up and ran away.

He returned a few seconds later carrying our father's limp body. He put him down next to Perseus and ran back. In a few minutes he had gathered all the Gods. Then we transported them all to his temple and put them in different rooms. We then went back and transported the demigods along with my Hunters, who were all still unconscious, back to camp. Amazingly none of them had fallen into the huge cracks that had opened up because of the earthquake. A lot of the campers along with some of my Hunters were dead, which saddened me, but we still transported their bodies so that they could get a proper burial.

I had already contacted Chiron and he was waiting for the campers with a few of Apollo's children who had stayed back at camp to protect it. I left Apollo there and went back to Apollo's temple. Most of the gods were already awake and as soon as they saw me, they all started shouting questions at me.

I sighed. This was going to be a long day.

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**Well? Like it? Hate it? Please review...Tell me if I did anything wrong. I think I'll be doing some more gods' POVs so if you think there was something wrong with this chapter, please let me know what it was... **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's the next chapter. This is my longest chapter yet. I'm trying to increase the size of my chapters so the updates may take a bit longer but I will still try to update within the week. As for the pairing poll, since a few people voted in their reviews or PMed me, I'm gonna write the results here - **

**Artemis: 6**

**Thalia: 3**

**Hestia: 2**

**Athena: 1**

**Zoe: 1**

**Aphrodite: 0**

**Reyna: 0**

**Chaos: 0**

**Bianca: 0**

**Other: 0**

**OC: 0**

**Harem: 0**

**The poll will be open for just one more chapter. I will close it after I post the next chapter. If somebody votes for OC or Other, then PM me the details.**

**Now, on with the story...**

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PERCY

The last thing I saw before slipping into unconsciousness was the beautiful silver eyes of Artemis.

The next thing I knew, I was standing in the middle of the throne room at Olympus and all 12 Olympian Gods were present along with Hestia and Hades and all the minor Gods. All the campers were also present. They all looked fine, which was a relief. When no one looked towards me or even acknowledged me, I knew that I was dreaming.

Then I heard Zeus shout, "SILENCE". Everyone shut up. He then continued to give a long speech about how he had led them all to victory over the Giants and stuff. I didn't pay attention. I was trying to remember the war but it was fuzzy at best.

After the speech was over and everyone had clapped, Zeus said, "We are here to reward the demigods who fought in the war beside us and honor those that died fighting. I first call the demigods who were part of the Prophecy of the Seven along with Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, Reyna, daughter of Bellona and my own daughter, Thalia Grace, to come forward."

Eight demigods stepped forward. Besides me, someone else was missing. With a pang, I realized that Piper wasn't there. I looked around but she was nowhere to be seen. A feeling of dread filled me as I remembered Zeus saying that demigods had died in the war. I hoped that there was some other reason for her absence but I still had a bad feeling about it. I looked on with sadness.

The demigods bowed to their respective parents, except Thalia who first bowed to Artemis and then Zeus. Then all of them knelt in the center of the room, facing Zeus. Zeus didn't look happy about whatever he was about to say and was grumbling to himself when I saw that many of the Olympians were glaring at him. He cleared his throat and said, "We Gods have decided that in light of your services to Olympus, you all will be made full immortals."

All the demigods looked shocked. Zeus, however continued, "If you all agree to this, then you have the choice to either be the leaders of your respective camps and lead them to battle, whenever required, or become your respective godly parent's lieutenant and live with them on Olympus, except for Thalia who is already Artemis' lieutenant and will continue to be so and Nico, who will act as his father's lieutenant in the Underworld. The rest of you will be given a year to stay at camp and decide what you want to do."

Before he could say anymore, Nico and Thalia blurted out at the same time, "What about Percy?" They both looked at each other and then Thalia continued, "He deserves this as much as we do, probably more." Zeus looked irritated. "Yes, yes he will also be given the same offer when he wakes up." I was happy that Nico and Thalia had remembered me. I was also a little surprised that Annabeth hadn't said anything. But I shook it off, she probably would have said something after Zeus finished speaking rather than interrupting him.

"Well then, what is your decision?" Zeus demanded. His eyes were flashing, as if he would blast anyone who said no. I still remembered the look on his face when I had turned down godhood. It had been priceless. One by one all of them accepted and then all the Olympians stood up. I noticed that most of them were smiling at the prospect of making their children immortal and having them by their side for eternity. They all raised their hands with their palms facing the still kneeling demigods in the center of the room and started glowing. Athena told the rest of the campers to close their eyes. Then a blinding golden light shot out of all the Olympians towards the demigods.

The scene dissolved. I was again standing in the throne room with all the Olympians and Hestia and Hades present but this time they were both sitting on thrones beside the other Olympians. My father had a sad look in his eyes and was looking at Apollo, "Apollo how is my son? It has been 6 months since the war ended. Why isn't he awake yet?" Apollo looked nervous, "Uncle, I've done everything I could. Physically he is healed. I do not know why he is still not awake. His symptoms indicated that he used much more of his godly powers than he should have which caused him to black out but that usually only lasts for a few days. I don't have any idea why he's still not awake."

He looked like he was afraid my father was going to blast him for saying that. Father glared at him for a second and then his shoulders sagged and he put his face in his hands, "It's all my fault. I could have stopped this." Hestia looked at him sadly, "Brother, how many times have I told you that it was not your fault. You couldn't have done anything to prevent it. Stop blaming yourself for it." She then glared at Zeus. Zeus cleared his throat and said, "Umm…. yes brother, it wasn't your fault." Hermes spoke up, "Yeah uncle, Percy is strong. He will make it through."

My father calmed down a bit so Zeus continued, "Now, what news of Gaea? Have any of you found any trace of her?" He looked at Hades in particular. Hades shifted uncomfortably as everyone stared at him, "I have checked everywhere, even in Tartarus, and there is no sign of Gaea anywhere in the Underworld. Although, I can now confirm that Porphyrion is back in Tartarus. He seems to have had been severely crushed when I found him in an underground cave so I merely stabbed him and his essence was scattered. I don't think he is coming back any time soon, if ever."

Everyone looked a bit relieved with this news. Then Zeus looked towards Artemis, "Daughter, tell us once again what happened after …..Umm…you know…" "After we were knocked out" my dad interrupted impatiently. Zeus looked kind of embarrassed.

Artemis sighed, "I have already told you everything. After you all were unconscious, Gaea trapped me and was about to kill me when I saw her stumble and hesitate. Then she muttered, "Stop fighting me" and I knew that Perseus was still fighting her for control. When she was starting to cut me with the blade, her eyes widened and she dropped the sword. Then she screamed, but it was Perseus' voice and not Gaea's and the earthquake that followed was the largest I have ever seen. I doubt even Poseidon would have been able to conjure such a powerful earthquake. There was also a huge storm that was also probably the strongest I have seen. That's what the line from the prophecy probably meant - '_To storm or fire, the world must fall'_. Perseus was glowing with an aura almost exactly like Poseidon's. The ground split open and Porphyrion fell into the ground. I also heard Gaea scream but it seemed to be coming from far away. Then it stopped suddenly and my constraints fell away. The aura around Perseus disappeared and the earthquake and storm stopped. I looked up and saw that his eyes had returned to their original color and then he collapsed. I revived Apollo and we then transported all of you along with Perseus to Apollo's temple so that you could heal. Apollo then took care of the demigods and my Hunters and also transported them back to Camp. We could not save the daughter of Aphrodite, Piper along with a few other campers and some of my Hunters. Some of the campers were seriously injured but they would make it. You know the rest." It looked like she had already told the same story many times before.

She looked really sad as she remembered her dead Hunters. I tried to understand what she had just said. Piper was dead! Poor Jason! No wonder Aphrodite looked so sad. She barely had any makeup on. I didn't remember anything at all about what Artemis had just said about Gaea and me. Then the scene shifted again.

I was standing in the amphitheater at Camp Half-Blood. All the campers along with Jason, Reyna, Frank, Hazel, Leo and Annabeth were present. I was relieved to see Annabeth. Chiron was on the stage. He stomped his hooves and everyone fell silent. "I have heard from the gods that Perseus Jackson is healed but still unconscious. They do not know the reason for this. We can only hope that he will wake up soon. He is still at Lord Apollo's temple on Olympus." Some of the younger campers, who were obviously new, seemed bored while the older campers looked sad.

Annabeth looked close to tears and ran out of the amphitheater. After glancing uncertainly at each other Hazel and surprisingly Jason followed her to try and comfort her.

The scene dissolved and I was in a hospital room. I saw my mom sitting up in a bed with a small bundle of blankets in her arms and Paul standing beside the bed. They were both smiling and looking down towards the bundle. I moved closer for a better look and saw a small head with my mom's black hair and Paul's light blue eyes. Whoa! When did that happen? Don't get me wrong, I was happy for my mom and Paul, I was just surprised. I now had a younger brother or sister. Whoa!

The scene started to shift again and now I was standing in a room that looked like a hospital room but a lot grander. The walls were golden. There were couches and chairs lining the walls and a huge bed in the middle of the room. There was a 50-inch plasma TV on the wall opposite the bed. I looked down on the bed and realized that I was looking at myself. I looked pale but I was breathing steadily.

Then someone cleared their throat and I, the dream-me, whirled around to find myself facing an impossibly beautiful woman who had an amused expression on her face. She had long black hair and she was wearing an expensive-looking business suit. I gaped at her. She was literally glowing and I could feel immense power radiating off her skin. Her power made even Erebus look like a small insignificant ant.

She looked at my face and laughed. Hearing her laugh was like getting injected with happiness. I closed my mouth which had been hanging open and asked the question foremost on my mind, "Who are you?" She stopped laughing and looked at me again. I looked at her eyes. Were those galaxies? "I think you know." Her voice was somewhat like the Oracle, but a thousand times more ancient and powerful.

I stared at her eyes. There were galaxies swirling around in them and it was mesmerizing. I stared at her blankly. She sighed, "You are a bit slow, aren't you? I'm Chaos, the First Being, the Creator of the Universe, etc. etc." I stared at her. My mind was reeling.

I remembered something Annabeth had told me about the being that had supposedly created everything-the galaxies, the stars, the planets, Earth. Everything. She'd called the being Chaos and said that nobody had ever seen Chaos and that she had probably faded. Yet here she was, in my dream, waiting patiently while I stared at her.

I finally found my tongue, "But, how can you be Chaos? Didn't you fade, like, a long time ago? I mean, no one's ever seen you or anything."

She shrugged like it was no big deal, "It's true I haven't been to Earth in a while but I never faded. I simply had other things to do. Besides, there was nothing even remotely interesting here for me. Your life is probably the most interesting thing that has happened on this planet in a long time, if not ever. The last one even remotely interesting was the one you call Hercules but he had an attitude problem and I didn't like him. Anyways there is another reason for why I am here now. I had been watching when my daughter tried to use you to take over the world. And then when she was about to kill that Goddess, you did something that I did not expect, which is rare. You overcame Gaea and crushed her essence. By doing this, you put Gaea into a deep sleep from which I don't think she will ever wake up. But, in the process of doing that, your own soul was damaged and you would have died if I hadn't saved you. I did that because when you overcame Gaea, I recognized something that I had failed to see before. You had released more power than you possibly could have had. This was when I realized that you were special and I could use someone like you. Then you fell into a state of unconsciousness because your soul needed time to heal. Now, in order for you to heal completely, I had to erase the memory of your struggle with Gaea. That's why you can't remember anything about it. Oh and also, when you crushed Gaea's essence, some of it was absorbed into your essence, much like what happened when you defeated Kronos.**(A/N: I will explain in later chapters.)** So now, you will have much more control over the Earth than before. It's been more than a year since that incident and you're completely healed. I am here now because I have an offer. I want you to come with me. I have a group of trained warriors who act on my behalf whenever I feel the need to interfere in the affairs of a planet. I want you to be part of that group. I only choose the best warriors from around the universe and you fit the bill perfectly."

After she said this, I tried to absorb all the information. I defeated Gaea! Chaos, the Creator of the freaking Universe, found me interesting and was offering me a chance to go with her and be a part of her own little strike force. But I thought about all my friends and my family. I thought about Annabeth. No, I couldn't leave them. I just couldn't.

I looked at Chaos and shook my head, "I'm sorry. I'm thankful to you for saving my life but I cannot just leave my friends and family." She just nodded. "I had a feeling you would say that but well, I had to try. Now, you're going to wake up very soon so one last thing. You have to promise me that you won't tell anyone about meeting me or anything about me. I would prefer it if nobody knew of my involvement. You will have to swear by my name. I do not trust the little oaths you make by the Styx and oaths made in my name are truly unbreakable."

I shrugged and said, "I swear by Chaos that I will not tell anyone about my meeting with you or anything about you." I glowed for a second and Chaos nodded. "I will be going then. Farewell, Perseus Jackson and I hope you have a good life." She said this as if she didn't believe it. Then she was gone and the scene was dissolving. There was a moment of darkness and then I opened my eyes.

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**Well then, how was it? This was basically a 1 year time skip. It explained what happened during the one year Percy was unconscious. Next chapter, Percy wakes up. **

**Oh and please review! I'm running out of ideas so if you guys have any suggestions then please let me know...:)**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:**** I'm back! Sorry for not updating in so long. I know I said that I'll update every week and now it's been around 2 weeks since I last updated. I'm really sorry. **

**But to make up for this, I'm posting a longer chapter. I hope you guys like it.**

**Oh and I closed the poll for the Percy-pairing for this story and the winner is Artemis! So this will be a Pertemis story but don't expect them to suddenly start dating. It's gonna take time. **

**Also, I'm asking this again coz I'm desperate for ideas - any and all suggestions are welcome. Please R&R!**

**On to the chapter! :)**

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APOLLO POV(Didn't see this one coming)

I was getting my awesome chariot ready to fulfill my morning duties when I felt a tugging sensation in the back of my head. I froze **(A/N: Get it? The Sun God froze! :D)**.

I had been waiting for more than a year for this. It meant Percy was awake.

I immediately summoned one of my immortal children and told him to drive the chariot today. Then I flashed to my temple and ran to the room where Percy had been sleeping.

I burst through the door and saw him wide awake, trying to get up. I could have cried out in joy when I saw that he was really awake.

He saw me and said, "Hey Lord Apollo, can you help me up?"

He was smiling. I rushed forward and laid a hand on his shoulder, pushing him back onto the bed. "Percy, you've been asleep for more than a year. It's gonna take a while before you can move your muscles properly, let alone stand up."

Without waiting for him to reply, I continued, "Thank Zeus you're alright. You had us all worried. I should probably let the others know." In my mind, I sent a mental message to Hermes to come at once.

There was a flash of light and Hermes was standing in front of me with his caduceus in hand. "You called?"

Then he looked around and saw that Percy was awake. The look on his face was priceless. I discreetly snapped a couple of photos with the camera I always keep with me. "Percy! You're awake! When-How did this happen?", he exclaimed.

I just shook my head and said,"He woke up a few minutes ago. As to how, I have no idea. I called you so that you could let the other Gods know that Percy's awake. I'm sure they would like to know."

He was nodding before I finished. He flashed away. In the meantime I checked on Percy while he complained that he was fine.

I applied one of my special solutions on his body and soon he was able to move his muscles.

One by one the Gods started arriving. Almost all of the Olympian Gods came except Artemis, who was apparently on a hunt and Hermes couldn't reach her, Dionysus, who was just lazy, and Ares, who, Hermes told me, said that he didn't feel like it.

The rest of them looked around and there were some shocked faces when they saw Percy which meant that Hermes had neglected to mention the reason for why I had called them here.

Percy just raised his hand and said, "Hi". Their expressions were priceless so I got to click some more pictures as they all looked at the wide-awake Percy. Perfect blackmail material.

Then they all greeted him and Poseidon hugged him and everything. They all started asking questions at the same time and the expression on Percy's face made me laugh. Zeus managed to silence them and said that there would be a council meeting later that Percy would be attending.

Once all the Gods had flashed away, I waved my hand over him once, sending some of my healing energy into his body, and fixed up his muscles as best as I could.

He struggled up even after I warned him to stay put. When it was clear that he wasn't going to listen, I helped him up. He winced when he stood up and then took a few shaky steps.

He spoke up, "Can you take me to camp? I'd like to meet my friends now." I nodded and put a hand on his shoulder. I teleported both of us onto the porch of the Big House and startled both Dionysus and Chiron who were, as usual, playing pinochle.

Chiron's eyes widened and he rushed forward to hug Percy saying, "My boy, you're finally awake." Dionysus just looked at Percy and said, "So, the brat returns." Percy chuckled and said, "It's good to see you too Mr. D".

I said goodbye to Percy and told him that I'll come by later or send Hermes to get him for the council meeting. He nodded and thanked me and then started walking, or rather limping, towards the cabins, no doubt to look for his friends.

I flashed away back to my temple, thinking about writing a haiku describing Percy's recovery.

**(POV change!)**

PERCY POV

I was having some difficulty walking and wondered whether I should have listened to Apollo and stayed in bed. It was too late for that now.

Besides, I really wanted to see my friends, especially Annabeth. It seemed like I just couldn't spend time with her. First, there was the Titan war, then I was kidnapped by Hera, then she had to follow the Mark of Athena, then we fell into Tartarus where, although we were together, we were always trying to survive and then this.

I had been unconscious for over a year. I could only imagine how Annabeth was feeling.

As I walked, campers stared at me, some more openly than others. I met many of my friends along the way.

Connor and Travis Stoll saw me and ran over to greet me. I met Katie Gardner, Frank, Hazel and many others. Even Clarisse stopped by to say hi. I stopped to talk to each of them and they told me what had been going on at camp in the last year.

I found out that my dreams about my friends becoming immortal were true. They told me that Thalia was away with the hunters, Nico was now the Prince of the Underworld and Jason and Leo were living back at Camp Jupiter as immortal trainers along with Frank and Hazel as immortal trainers at Camp Half-Blood.

I asked about Annabeth and Katie told me that she had accepted her mother's offer and was now Athena's lieutenant and usually lived on Olympus. Luckily, she was visiting right camp right now but they didn't know where to find her.

I thanked all of them and promised to hang out later. I walked on thinking about Annabeth.

I was happy for her. It was her dream to be able to work side by side with her mother.

I reached the Athena cabin and knocked. Malcolm answered. He was probably the head counselor for the Athena cabin now. He was surprised to see me and greeted me happily.

I asked where Annabeth was. He shrugged and said he didn't know. I nodded at him and continued looking for her.

I checked the beach, the stables, the Amphitheater but I couldn't find her. Then I smacked myself on the forehead, I hadn't checked the arena. It should have been the first place for me to check, knowing Annabeth.

I was right. I walked into the arena and saw her hacking away at the straw dummies with her knife. I decided to have some fun since her back was turned towards me and she couldn't see me. I crept up to her and stood right behind her. She was still attacking the dummies.

I shouted loudly, "The camp is under attack!" She whirled around and the knife was pointed straight at my chest. Our eyes met and she gasped. Her blade clattered to the ground and she rushed forward, engulfing me in a bear hug.

I gladly returned the favor. I don't know how long we stood like that but when we separated, I could see tears on her cheeks. I held her face in my hands and wiped away the tears with my thumbs.

I looked into her eyes and slowly leaned in. Our lips touched and a feeling of calm and happiness spread through my body. But at the same time something felt wrong, she seemed hesitant. I shrugged it off as we broke apart.

Somebody cleared their throat noisily behind me and I turned around to see Nico standing there, grinning. He walked forward and hugged me, "I came as soon as Dad told me that you were awake". I grinned at him and looked back to see Annabeth smiling at us.

Then all three of us started towards the pavilion as the conch sounded signaling lunch. We talked about everything that happened in the past year. Or rather they talked and I listened.

They asked me about the Giant War and what really happened but I told them that I didn't remember. They didn't push it. they told me about their time as the lieutenants of their respective parents. They both seemed really happy.

As we walked, more and more campers stopped to stare at us, or rather at me. I thought I was used to this but they seemed to be staring more than usual. I shrugged it off and continued to the pavilion.

We got our food, made our sacrifices and sat down at our respective tables to eat. I was as usual, alone at my table, as was Nico. Then I noticed that there were two more tables and that Nico was sitting at one of them. I remembered my dream where Hestia and Hades were sitting on their own thrones on Olympus and I realized that they must have been made Olympians.

I smiled, I had always wanted them to be a part of the Olympian Council. After dinner, I walked out of the pavilion with Annabeth and Nico.

Nico was about to leave to return to the Underworld since he still had duties to complete when there was a bright flash of light and there was a large group of girls in silver outfits standing in front of us. The Hunters of Artemis.

I looked around but Artemis didn't seem to be around. I looked at the Hunters more closely and realized that they were all barely standing. They all were covered in cuts and bruises and most of them seemed to be crying. A few of them collapsed on the ground as campers rushed forward to help them.

We also ran forward. I saw Thalia and ran towards her. She collapsed just as I reached her and I caught her before she fell. I helped her sit on a nearby log and handed her some nectar and ambrosia which I had just grabbed from a camper.

She ate it and some color returned to her face. She looked at me and her eyes widened slightly before her shoulders sagged and she held her head in her hands. She looked close to sobbing. Annabeth, who was on her other side, gently placed a hand on Thalia's shoulder and asked, "Thalia, what happened? Who did this to you and the other Hunters? And where's Artemis?" At the last question, Thalia flinched.

She shuddered and said, "We were hunting a group of monsters when we were ambushed by an army of monsters led by Iapetus." I did a double-take when I heard his name. Bob?**(A/N: Read the Demigod Files)** "Wait, you're telling me he got his memories back?", I asked.

Thalia nodded sadly, "He told us that Gaea found him and gave him his memory back in return for his allegiance before the war. He said that he had been building his army ever since the war. He was Gaea's backup plan. He apparently has a plan to revive Gaea which included attacking and capturing us, or rather Artemis. We refused to give in and fought the army, but there were just too many monsters. We were eventually surrounded and they were about to capture us when Artemis turned towards us and said that she was sorry. We were all confused when she suddenly snapped her fingers and we were transported here. She sacrificed herself to save us. She probably doesn't have any energy left after transporting all of us. I should have done something. I should have been stronger. I'm the worst lieutenant ever."

Then she started crying. I stared at her. Artemis had been captured and was going to be used to somehow awaken Gaea again. Chaos' words came back to me - '_you put Gaea into a deep sleep from which I don't think she will ever wake up_.'

I didn't know if awakening her was possible or not but I wasn't going to stand around waiting. By this time the other Hunters had been moved to the infirmary. We helped Thalia to the infirmary and then I ran to find Chiron.

I told him everything Thalia had told us and he seemed worried. I was going to demand a quest to rescue Artemis when there was a flash and Apollo appeared beside me. "Ready to go for the meeting?", he asked me.

He noticed the worried look on my face and asked, "What's wrong?" Again I told him everything Thalia had told me. By the time I finished, his face was grim, more grim than I have ever seen him. I knew he was worried about Artemis. "We need a quest", I said.

He looked at me and said, "I'm sorry Percy but this matter is too big for me to decide alone. Come with me, we'll inform the Council."

I nodded and he flashed us to the throne room on Olympus. Everyone quieted down when we arrived and looked at us. Apollo grew to his full size and sat on his throne.

The others looked worried seeing the grim look on his face. They knew it was bad if Apollo was serious. Apollo motioned for me to talk and once again I told everyone about what had happened and what Thalia told me.

When I was done, they all looked pale. I knew they were not ready to fight another war. They were still weak from the previous two wars. If Gaea came back now, then we stood no chance against her. I again demanded a quest and Zeus nodded, "Yes yes, a quest will be issued. But first, back to the matter for which this meeting was called. What can you tell us about the time when you were possessed by Gaea."

I shook my head. I couldn't believe they wanted to discuss this right now. But I couldn't just say no to the King of the Gods. But still, I didn't remember anything about that time and that's what I told them.

I didn't tell them anything about what Chaos told me. Technically I hadn't met her and couldn't exactly tell them that she visited me in a dream.

many on the council had disbelieving looks on their faces. Zeus glared at me. "How can you not remember?", he all but yelled. I just shrugged and said, " The whole war is a bit hazy but the last thing I remember is helping Artemis kill Gration. After that I just woke up in Apollo's temple."

Zeus looked like he was gonna yell again but my father cut in, "Very well. We shall talk more about this later. if you remember something, tell one of us immediately."

I nodded and my father continued, "Now on to the other reason for this meeting." His tone was excited and hopeful. I looked at Zeus. He was frowning and grumbling under his breath. My father cleared his throat and he straightened up.

Zeus looked like there was something stuck in his throat. He cleared his throat and spoke up, "Perseus Jackson, for your services to Olympus during the Giant war, the council has decided to grant you full immortality and a chance to become your father's lieutenant and live either on Olympus or in Atlantis. Do you accept this generous offer?"

Honestly, I was shocked. I did not think that Zeus would actually offer me immortality again after I first refused it after the Titan war. I thought about all the reasons why I had refused earlier. The main reason then was Annabeth but now that she was immortal too, I didn't see anything wrong with it. Most of my friends too were immortal. The only other thing I could have asked for would have been for Hestia and Hades to be added to the council but since that was already done, i didn't have anything else to ask for.

I raised my eyes and looked around the throne room at all the Gods. My father looked really happy and hopeful. Both Apollo and Hermes gave me a thumbs up and grinned. Ares and Athena were both glaring at me. Hestia was smiling warmly at me and Aphrodite was squealing. The rest of them looked had looks of indifference except Hera who looked slightly angry. I looked at the empty throne of Artemis.

I squared my shoulders and looked straight at Zeus, who was staring at me warily. I spoke up, " Lord Zeus, I accept your generous offer of immortality but can I have some time before deciding about becoming my father's lieutenant?"

My father looked a bit confused but Zeus just looked relieved that I didn't refuse the gift again. He nodded and said, "You will be made immortal and you may live at Camp Half-Blood for the time being and decide in one month's time if you want to be your father's lieutenant or an immortal trainer."

After that, the whole council stood up and raised their arms towards me. All I saw was a blinding flash of light and then I felt unimaginable pain. It felt like I was in the river Styx again. It felt like my blood was boiling. I tried to scream but no sound came.

Then suddenly, the pain stopped and I was standing in the middle of the throne room. All the gods sat down on their thrones again. Everything looked the same, yet everything was different. I felt stronger. All the weakness that I had felt in my muscles ever since I woke up, was now gone. I could also see a lot clearer now.

I looked up at Zeus. I bowed and said, "Thank you Lord Zeus for this generous gift."

He nodded. I continued, "Now what of the quest to rescue Artemis. When can I leave?"

He looked at me as if I had grown a second head. "What do you mean leave? The quest will be issued later tonight at the campfire but you cannot go on the quest. You are an immortal now. This is a quest for demigods. The Ancient Laws forbid you from interfering. You will stay at camp and train demigods, not go on quests."

I stared at him. I had completely forgotten that now I was one of them. I had to obey the Ancient Laws.

But then my rebellious side kicked in. Artemis was captured and he wanted to follow rules?

I was about to shout at him but thought better of it. I knew that there was no changing his mind so I simply glared at him, bowed, turned around and left. I could see the surprised looks on some of the Gods' faces as if they expected me to argue, which they probably did.

I quickly got to the elevator and went down to the Empire State Building. I took a cab to camp and quickly found Annabeth sitting next to Thalia in the infirmary. Thalia still looked pretty banged up. An Apollo camper was bandaging her leg which had a long gash on it.

I pulled Annabeth aside and told her all that had happened in hushed whispers so that Thalia wouldn't hear because I didn't want her to know what I was gonna do next. I told her that I was gonna sneak out of camp and go to look for Artemis and asked if she wanted to come.

She looked at me sadly and said, "Percy I can't come with you. I'm immortal and according to Ancient Laws, I cannot interfere." I hadn't told her that they made me immortal too. I knew she would try to stop me if i told her that.

I didn't want to tell Thalia because I knew she would insist on going even though she was in no shape to go on a quest. She was probably the only immortal who could have gone since she was a Hunter of Artemis. I didn't know what to do. I could ask Grover but I didn't know where he was. He was away fulfilling his duties as Lord of the Wild somewhere.

Then I decided I would go alone. I couldn't ask any of the other campers and put them in danger. Also, I couldn't let Artemis remain captured. I don't know why but it pained me that Artemis had been captured. I wanted to rescue her at any cost.

I suddenly realized that I was still in the infirmary and Annabeth was looking at me sadly. I nodded at her, letting her know that it was fine and then told her not to tell Thalia yet. She nodded in understanding and I left then, thinking about when and how I would leave camp.

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**Alright so how was it? This chapter took so long to write. This is the longest chapter yet. Don't expect all chapters to be this long. **

**Please review and know that I'm desperately in need of suggestions for how to continue this story. Also, could you guys suggest some monsters for Percy to fight on this quest to save Artemis.**

**See you guys in a week! :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Some people pointed out a mistake in the last chapter about Piper being the immortal trainer when she was actually dead. I've fixed the problem now. You can go back and read it again. I just made a slight change. Now Jason and Leo are at Camp Jupiter and Frank and Hazel are at Camp Half-Blood. **

**Also a big thank you to all the people who favorited, followed or reviewed. You guys made my day. **

**Now on with the chapter.**

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PERCY POV

Sneaking out of camp was easier than I expected.

But first let me explain a something.

At the end of the Titan War when Luke stabbed himself to destroy Kronos, not all of the gold aura of energy surrounding Kronos dissipated. Some of the aura seeped into my chest. Nobody saw it and I didn't feel any different so I decided that I had imagined it.

A few days later, I was fighting a few dracaena that had attacked the camp border. One of them managed to sneak up behind me and was about to stab me in my mortal point. I panicked and tried to stop her but I knew it was too late.

Right then I felt a tug in my gut similar to when I control water but this was deeper and more painful.

But I was so surprised at what happened next that I didn't even register the pain. All the dracaena slowed down and came to a stop as if they were frozen. The tip of the sword of the dracaena that had snuck up behind me was inches from my back.

I had seen Kronos use his powers too many times to know that time had stopped and the pain in my gut told me that I had caused this. I quickly dispatched off the frozen dracaena and then sighed as the pain in my gut lessened and time began to flow normally.

That was when I realized what had happened when Kronos was destroyed. I had somehow acquired the power over time.

I decided not to tell anyone about it and for the next few weeks I practiced with these new powers whenever I was alone before I was kidnapped by Hera.

At that time I didn't know how it happened but after my talk with Chaos, I now know what had happened. I had absorbed some of Kronos' essence, which essentially gave me power over time.

Now usually I would have been repulsed that a part of Kronos was inside me but after this power has saved me and my friends' lives so many times, I know how useful it is. I wasn't able to use it when I lost my memory but when I got it all back, I remembered my training with the time powers and tried to use it as subtly as possible whenever I fought a monster or Giant. I would usually just slow them down a bit so that no one would notice and it wouldn't take much energy. That was enough for me or one of my friends to take care of the monster.

One annoying part about having this power is that I always know what time it is. And I mean the exact time. So whenever someone asks me the time I automatically say something like, "11 hours 23 minutes 55 seconds in the morning." It's happened to me a couple of times and every time people stare at me weirdly.

So anyway, now when I wanted to sneak out of camp without anyone knowing, I decided to sneak out of my cabin at night when everyone was asleep.

Ares appeared at the campfire that night and gave the quest to rescue Artemis to Clarisse. She chose her boyfriend Chris and another Ares camper as her partners and they went off with Chiron to the big house to discuss the quest.

I simply went back to my cabin and lay down to wait until everyone else was asleep.

I packed all the essentials needed for a quest and checked one final time that Riptide was in my pocket before leaving my cabin at 3 hours 31 minutes and 13 seconds in the morning. Oh great I did it again. Argh!

Nobody was around and it was completely quiet in camp. I quickly walked towards the camp border.

When I got there, I saw the harpies patrolling the area. I simply stopped time around them them when their backs were turned so that they wouldn't see me cross the border. I released my hold once I reached the bottom of the hill.

But when I got to the bottom I found someone waiting for me. At first I thought I had been caught but relaxed when I saw who it was. I knew he wouldn't stop me.

**(I thought about stopping here but the chapter was too short...)**

It was none other than the Sun God, Apollo. He grinned at me smugly, "Sneaking out, are we?".

I shrugged, "Since I won't get a quest, I have no other choice. I have to save Artemis."

He smiled, "I know. I'm not here to stop you. I want to help you."

I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. He continued, "Since I can't directly interfere with your 'quest', I'm going to give you three gifts."

He then placed his finger on my temple and muttered something. I glowed briefly. "There, I gave you my strongest archery blessing since I know how bad you are with a bow. Also, since you don't have a bow, that brings me to your second gift." He raised his hand and a beautiful gold and green bow with intricate silver carvings appeared in his hand.

He handed it to me and said, "Go ahead and pull back the string."

I somehow knew what position to take and pulled back on the string, as far as it would go. Right when it reached the right distance from the bow, a bronze arrow appeared between it and I took aim and fired at a boulder 50 feet away. It hit the boulder perfectly in the center.

To say that I was amazed would be an understatement. I had never even hit a target before in my life. This was too good to be true.

"Whoa, how did I do that?" I asked Apollo. He grinned again. "As I said, I gave you my strongest blessing. You should be firing bullseyes all the time now. The bow is similar to the Hunter's bow. It will appear whenever you need it. Just put it on your back now and it should vanish."

I did as he told and the bow disappeared.

I smiled happily and thanked him. "Now for the final gift", he said with a flourish. He held out his hand and said, "Can I see your sword?".

I uncapped Riptide and handed it to him. He held it in his hand and moved it about as if testing its weight and balance.

Then he held out his other hand and closed his eyes as if he was concentrating. His hand started glowing brighter and brighter until I couldn't look any more and turned away.

When the light died down I looked back and felt my jaw drop at what I saw. Apollo was holding Riptide in one hand and another sword that looked exactly like Riptide except that it seemed to be made completely out of light.

He handed me both the swords and the new one felt exactly like Riptide, except that it was a bit warm. When it touched my hand, the light died down and I could actually see the sword. It was made of Olympian silver, the same metal the Hunters used, with traces of celestial bronze and imperial gold in it.**  
**

Apollo looked tired, but he was grinning like crazy. "Whew, haven't tried that in a while. That is one of my strongest weapons. That sword is unbreakable and very sharp. But it is not an ordinary blade. Hold out the sword and think about the sun."

I capped Riptide and put it back into my pocket before doing what he told me to do. As soon as I thought about the sun, the sword started glowing with light again and it was giving off heat too. I almost dropped it with surprise.

Apollo was smiling triumphantly and said, "Now think about the moon." Again I did as he said and the sword stopped glowing. I looked at Apollo confused.

He spoke up," Whenever you light up the sword like that, you will be able to cut through anything and anyone with it. It's surface becomes as hot as the sun to everyone except you and me. But be careful how you use it. The sword takes energy from you. The harder the material is that you're cutting, the more energy it requires.**(A/N: The concept is similar to Eragon's sword Brisingr from the Inheritance Cycle)** So use this ability only when there's no other way."

By now I was grinning broadly. This was awesome. Apollo also grinned as if he knew what I was thinking.

I looked around for some way to hook the sword onto my back or side but had nowhere to put the new light sword. I would have to think of a name for it later. As Apollo saw me looking for a place to put it, he said," Just imagine it going into your hand."

I stared at him but tried it anyway. I was surprised to see the sword melt into my hand. Apollo nodded, "That's right. Now when you need it, just imagine holding it and it will appear in your hand. Also like Riptide, you cannot lose it."

I thanked him again and he just waved his hand, "You can repay me by getting my baby sister back quickly. Oh and you can think of a name for it too. The name will appear on it in ancient Greek whenever you decide. I'll be going now. It's almost time for me to drive my chariot. I'll see you around."

With that he began glowing and I looked away out of reflex as he flashed away.

I stared at my hand and imagined holding the sword in my hand. It appeared in my hand and I marveled at it. I walked up to the boulder that I had shot earlier. It was atleast four feet wide. I thought about the sun and when the sword lit up, I slashed it through the boulder. It was cut in half as if it was warm butter. I grinned. This was truly awesome.

I quickly put it away and whistled loudly. "WOOF!" The next thing I know, I get tackled by a large black blur and am given a saliva bath by a huge pink tongue. I tried to push the huge hellhound off of me, "Let me up Mrs. O'Leary, I missed you too girl, let me up." She finally let me go and I heard a sound like artillery fire as her tail hit the ground again and again.

It was a wonder nobody heard her. I scratched behind her ear and then climbed onto her back. I leaned down and whispered San Francisco in her year and then held on as she jumped into the nearest shadow.

* * *

**So how was it? Please review.**

**I need some more suggestions for monsters as well as titans.**

**Oh and also some suggestions for the name of the sword.**

**R&R! :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:**** I'm back! **

**A big thank you to everyone who reviewed. Enjoy the chapter! :)**

* * *

PERCY

Mrs. O'Leary shadow traveled us right to the base of Mount Tam. I quickly slid down from her back. I could see that she was very tired and told her to go back to the underworld and rest. She gave me another watery lick before jumping into the nearest shadow.

I sighed and turned towards Mount Tam. I wasn't even sure if I would find Artemis here but considering that the Titan stronghold is supposed to be at the top of Mount Tam and this was where Artemis was held the last time she was captured, it seemed like a pretty good place to start.

Also, I wanted to check on Atlas. It wouldn't do for him to escape again.

I looked up to the top of Mount Tam. I remembered that the only time I would be able to enter the Garden of the Hesperides was at sunset because it needed to be twilight.

I was slightly disheartened because it was barely sunrise and I would have to wait till sunset. But then I remembered something Annabeth had told me.

After we had returned to camp after rescuing her and Artemis from Atlas, she had told me about a theory she had. She thought that theoretically we should be able to enter the Garden at sunrise too because the sense of twilight was basically the same.

At that time, I just nodded along and didn't pay much attention to it, but now I wondered if it was really true. Well, only one way to find out.

So, not wanting to waste anymore time because it was almost sunrise, I made my way to the top of the mountain while trying to look through the thick mist in the air, both magical and normal.

I knew I would have to get past Ladon to get to the top. That's what worried me.

The last time I was here, Zoe had distracted Ladon so we could slip past. This time I had no idea how I would get past him.

I wasn't one for planning ahead so I decided to worry about it when I get there.

Soon the mist started clearing and I saw the Garden of Hesperides in all its glory. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. There in the center stood the five-story tall tree with the golden apples of immortality glittering in the golden morning light.

I heaved a sigh. Annabeth really was a genius.

I scanned the Garden. Ladon was curled around the base of the tree but he was awake. I should have known. With my luck, he would attack me as soon as he saw me.

I looked to the top of the mountain and saw that it was much closer now. I could see the storm clouds and feel the raw energy from where the sky came down trying to touch the earth.

Only one path led up to the top and it was on the other side of the Garden. As I stepped out if the mist, three figures shimmered out of the shadows right in front of me.

The Hesperides were as beautiful as ever. Seeing them reminded me of Zoe. They looked so similar. Then one of them spoke, "Perseus Jackson, why have thee returned here. Do thee not care for thy life? Turn back now and do not return."

I glared at them and said, "I am not here for the golden apples. I need to get to the top of the mountain. I mean you no harm. Let me pass."

One of them snorted, which I found weird, and said, "It does not matter. Ladon will not let thee pass. Turn back or thee will die painfully."

I just shook my head, "I can't do that. I need to get to the top. I have to save Artemis."

They just gave me a weird look and then one said, "On thy head be it." Then all three of them vanished.

I walked on and got to the edge of the Garden. Ladon was still wrapped around the base of the tree. Half of his heads seemed to be napping while the other half were keeping watch. A few of them were looking straight at me.

I took a deep breath and stepped onto the lush green grass. Immediately, Ladon uncurled from the tree and stood up. Now all his heads were looking at me.

I tried to skirt around the edge of the Garden but I underestimated the length of Ladon's necks. I wasn't even halfway across when a few of his heads darted forward and tried to take a bite out of me. I backed up quickly.

I tried many different ways to somehow get across but Ladon was just too big. I huffed. This was getting me nowhere.

I took out Riptide and uncapped it. Ladon hissed as the gleaming bronze blade elongated. I had no intention of fighting Ladon but I don't think I have any other choice.

I had already tried to stop time around him but he was just too strong. It was all I could do to slow him down just enough to avoid getting a bite taken out of me.

I tried to skirt around the edge again but this time with Riptide at the ready. As soon as I was in range, three heads came towards me, I kicked one away, ducked another and cut the third one clean off. I was afraid it might grow back but nothing happened.

Ladon roared when I cut off one head. I nearly passed out from the smell. But I kept skirting around. I managed to keep the various heads at bay by kicking, ducking and dodging. I only used Riptide when there was no other choice.

I was thankful that Ladon never left the tree. There was no way I could have made it if he actually attacked me with all his heads at once.

Anyways, I made it to the other end with minor bruises but no bites. Finally some luck.

I had only cut off seven or eight of Ladon's heads. I checked to make sure that he wasn't going to attack me from behind before capping Riptide and taking a swig of Nectar.

Then I continued up the path and within a few minutes I arrived at the ruins of Mount Othrys. The last time I was here, the palace had been rising. This time, there was just rubble and a few walls still standing.

I couldn't see anyone around. I crept towards the place where Atlas holds the sky. When I finally got there, what I saw made my heart clench.

Atlas was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a small beautiful girl in tattered silver clothes was struggling to hold up the sky. It was Artemis.

Without thinking I ran forward intending to take the weight of the sky from Artemis. When I got close enough, I knew that something was wrong.

Artemis' form was flickering. I still kept running. When I was just ten feet away, the ground beneath my feet turned to liquid and I fell through. It hardened again when only my head and my shoulders were sticking out of the ground.

I looked up confused. My confusion only increased when I saw Artemis smiling. That's when her form shifted and I saw Atlas in her place instead.

I heard laughter from behind me and tried to turn around to see who it was. I heard footsteps and a large man in Greek armor came into view. He was the same height as the other titans I had met so I knew he was a titan but I had no idea who he was exactly.

He was smirking at me. I glared at him and asked, "Who are you?"

His smirk grew, "I am the Titan of Intellect and the North. I am Koios."

I gave him my best glare, "Tell me where Artemis is. I just saw her. Where did she go?"

He just chuckled and said, "She was never here. What you saw was just an illusion to make you think that Atlas here was actually Artemis. We had assumed that one of the Olympians would come to rescue her but instead we get the great Perseus Jackson. I think we will keep you as a gift for mother when she awakens again."

I tried to move but I was completely stuck. Noticing my struggling, Koios spoke up again, "This trap was built for a God boy. You cannot break it."

Just then there was a flash of light and standing before me was none other than Iapetus himself. He looked really happy for some reason.

He looked towards Koios and said, "The preparations are almost complete, you are required in the underworld."

Koios just nodded and vanished in a flash of light. Then Iapetus turned around and saw me and his smile turned into a scowl.

He glared at me and I smirked back, "So how are you Bob?"

His scowl deepened as he stepped towards me. "I will make you pay for that you foolish demigod. I could have helped my brother in the war if not for you. I could have helped my mother in the war if not for you. You have thwarted our plans enough times Perseus Jackson, now you will pay."

With that he took out his sword and advanced. I tried to move and somehow get Riptide in my hand but it was no use. I watched helplessly as he stepped in front of me and swung his sword, leaving a gash on my shoulder. I gritted my teeth, trying not to scream.

Golden ichor spilled from my wound. The sight of my blood stopped Iapetus short. He stared at my wound before finding his tongue again. "So the Olympians made you immortal."

He stopped suddenly as if thinking about something and then grinned evilly. He looked at me and said, "Well this trap was for a God and since you have been caught in it, might as well use it properly."

He then pulled out a brown pearl from his pocket and smashed it right in front of me. Mist rose from the broken pieces and swirled around me or atleast the part of me that was out of the ground.

Iapetus started chanting in a strange language that I had never heard before. As he was chanting, I started feeling weaker and weaker.

I started panicking when I saw my blood start to darken. My blood changed from golden to red in front of my eyes.

Iapetus stopped chanting and the mist dissipated. I stared at my wound which was now leaking mortal blood. I looked up at Iapetus.

He grinned, "I had saved that pearl for one of the Gods but this is worth it. You are now a mortal again, Jackson. How does it feel?"

I was reeling. As far as I knew, it wasn't possible to take away someone's immortality but here I was, living proof that it was indeed possible.

I was starting to feel dizzy from the amount of blood I was loosing from my shoulder. I still managed to speak up, "What have you done with Artemis? Where is she?"

He shook his head, "Don't worry about her. You can't help her now. She is in the underworld and will soon be sacrificed to Tartarus as the price to awaken Gaea again. You should be worrying about what mother will do to you once she is awake."

He then snapped his fingers and two Laestrygonian giants appeared with celestial bronze chains. He told them pull me out and bind me in chains and keep watch on me until he got back.

He was then about to leave when Atlas spoke up, "Stop!"

I was startled. I had completely forgotten that he was still there. Iapetus looked irritated and snapped, "What?"

Atlas looked up and said, "Free me from this burden. I can help you. Make Jackson take the sky."

Iapetus just shook his head. "He cannot be forced into taking the burden and I don't think he will take it willingly. Besides, you have had your chance Atlas and you failed. Now stop wasting my time." With that he disappeared in a flash.

After he was gone, Atlas was still yelling out curses but there was no one to listen. The Laestrygonians then proceeded to pull me out easily enough and were about to chain me up.

I had to think fast. As soon as I was free of the ground, I froze time around the two giants and slipped from their grasp. As soon as I was free, I uncapped Riptide and decapitated both of them.

Then I searched for my backpack which had been flung away from me. When I found it, I quickly stuffed two squares of Ambrosia into my mouth and took a sip of Nectar. I sighed as the pain from my shoulder receded and the wound healed.

I thought about what I knew. Artemis was in the underworld and was going to be sacrificed to Tartarus. That was all I needed to make up my mind. Immortal or not, I needed to get to the underworld fast.

I didn't want to try going past Ladon again. I sighed as another solution appeared in my mind. I made my way towards the cliff from which Luke had fallen all those years ago.

I found a spot that suited my needs and took a deep breath. I backed up a few steps, took a running start and jumped off the cliff.

* * *

**Well how was it? I know there wasn't much action but this was an important chapter for the story. Sorry for the cliffhanger though...**

**Oh and I still need some more ideas for the name of the light sword as well as monsters. R&R!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry for the wait. Had some problems with my laptop. **

**On with the story! :)**

**Disclaimer: Me no own PJO! :(**

* * *

PERCY

Even though I knew that it wouldn't hurt, I still couldn't think of anything else other than "Aaaaaarrrgghhhh". The wind whistled past my face and the water of Bolinas Bay **(I actually checked on google maps for this :P)** rushed up to meet me.

The next thing was a small splash as the water cushioned my fall. I didn't even sink two feet below the water. I gathered my wits as the salt water rejuvenated me and controlled the currents around me to push me deeper into the sea.

My plan was a simple one - Get to the Santa Monica beach by the sea, take a cab to the DOA Recording Studio, bribe Charon to ferry me across the Styx and worry about the rest once I was in the Underworld.

So I sped through the water and reached the Santa Monica beach in around half an hour. Thankfully nobody noticed me walk out of the ocean fully clothed and completely dry.

I quickly found a cab .

I thrust a wad of mortal money in the driver's hands and told him he could keep it all if he stepped on it and got me to West Hollywood in 15 minutes.**(I'm not sure if that's possible but let's just assume it is.)**

That turned out to be a mistake. I held on for dear life for the next ten minutes as the cab swerved through traffic and ran through traffic signals. I must have offered him more money than I realized.

Still, he got me there in 11 minutes. I got out right in front of the DOA Recording Studio and walked in.

It was pretty much the same as I remembered it. It was filled with spirits waiting their turn to go to the Underworld.

I walked up to the desk where Charon was sitting. He was wearing one of his silk suits and looked in a slightly better mood.

I walked right up to him and said, "Hello Charon."

He looked up, "Ah Jackson, did you drown in a bathtub again?"

I shook my head. That had been a lame excuse. I sighed and said, "I need to go to the underworld. It's really important."

He looked at me coldly, "This is not a cab service. You cannot go to the Underworld whenever you feel like it."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and reached into my pocket. I pulled out a handful of drachmas and deposited them in front of him and said, "I don't have time for this Charon. This is more than enough payment for one passenger on your boat."

He looked at me warily for a moment before reaching for the coins and nodding at the same time. He pocketed the coins and then led me to the elevator. It wasn't completely full like the last time but I don't think Charon cared.

The trip to the underworld was pretty much the same as last time. The elevator changed into the boat and the clothes of the spirits as well as Charon turned into grey and black robes. Charon began poling the boat across the dark river Styx.

This brought back memories of the last time I was here. I remembered the excruciating pain as I took a dip in the Styx. I was in no hurry to try that again and kept as far away from the edges of the boat as possible.

We made it to the shore and I got off with the other spirits. I turned around to thank Charon but he was already gone. Huh. That was weird.

I turned around again and froze. Now I knew why Charon had disappeared. Standing in front of me was an army of a few hundred monsters and in front of the army was a tall man. He was easily ten feet tall and was decked out in heavy Greek armor.

He had a huge greatsword in his hands and was staring right at me. Great another Titan. Oh joy!

I summoned up as much courage as I could and took out both my swords. The Titan let out a booming laugh which for some reason reminded me of an avalanche.

He spoke up, "Perseus Jackson. I was told that you had been captured but clearly, Iapetus and Koios underestimated you. Still, do you really believe that you can fight though my army and me? I am Perses, the Titan of Destruction. You stand no chance of defeating me. Is that Moon Goddess really worth your life. Remember that you are no longer immortal. Just lay down your weapons and I will make your death quick and painless. Fight, and you will be tortured mercilessly until you die."

His words had the opposite affect on me than what he was hoping. With every word, my anger grew and fear melted away.

"I may not be immortal any more, but I will still save Artemis if it's the last thing I do.", I yelled. I don't know where that came from but I knew that I meant it.

Perses just smirked and said, "You are too late demigod. Iapetus is going to start the ceremony shortly and you will be dead by that time."

I had had enough. I raised both my swords and let out a battle cry as I charged straight at the Titan. He just gave a feral grin and raised his own sword.

I jumped up when I was around 5 feet away from him and brought down both my swords in an overhead strike with all my strength. Perses raised his sword and the size of his sword allowed him to block both my swords. When our swords met, I literally bounces off. He didn't move an inch and I had put all my strength into that strike!

I landed painfully on my back but quickly jumped back to my feet. He advanced on me slowly as I waited for him to strike. He lunged forward with speed I wouldn't have thought possible for a being his size. Even his armor didn't seem to weigh him down. I barely managed to block his strike to my neck but the force from the strike pushed me back atleast ten feet.

I didn't have any time to rest as Perses attacked me again and again. Rather than completely blocking his blows, I tried to deflect them as much as possible. I was still being pushed back. I was completely on the defensive and already had multiple cuts on my arms and legs.

The monsters were just sitting back and watching the fight. I was atleast thankful for that. I don't think I could have fought Perses and fended off monsters at the same time. As it is, I was getting slower and weaker by the second.

I desperately tried to think of a way out of this. I suddenly remembered what my sword from Apollo could do. Could I just cut through Perses' sword? Suddenly Riptide was twisted out of my hand and I was now fighting with only one sword.

I was backed up right to the shore of the Styx. The river was just two feet behind me.

I didn't see any other way out so when I went to block another strike, I thought of the sun and my sword started glowing. Our blades met and my sword sunk halfway through his sword. I suddenly felt twice as tired as I was a moment ago. I remembered Apollo's warning about the sword taking energy from me and I hastily thought of the moon. The sword stopped glowing and it was left embedded in Perses' sword.

Not a moment too soon. I would have passed out if it continued to draw energy from me. As it is, the sword was yanked out of my hand as Perses pulled his sword back. He looked at the sword embedded in his sword in disbelief.

He tried to pull them apart but it wouldn't budge. He threw both swords away and turned to glare at me. I hadn't moved from my position. I was too tired. My arms were numb and my muscles felt like they were on fire from blocking all those strikes.

Perses sneered, "Well well, not so mighty now, are you Jackson? I don't know what you did to my sword or how you did it but you will pay for it."

I was too tired to even bother to reply. I just glared at him, dreading what was to come next. My only thought was that I had failed to rescue Artemis.

Perses in the meantime was still glaring at me. Then he looked at something behind me and his face broke into an evil grin. "Death would be too good for you. You would just end up in Elysium. No, I'd rather completely destroy you. Not just your body, but your soul as well.

Now I was confused. I had never heard of anyone having their soul destroyed. The only way I knew of was..."

I froze. No. I didn't think I could survive that again. But before I could do anything to stop him, he lunged forward and kicked me in the chest. I flew back and landed in the middle of the River Styx with a big splash.

**(I was going to stop here but decided that it would be too cruel to you. :P)**

As soon as I touched the water, it felt like my whole body was on fire. I submerged completely and for only the second time in my life, I felt what it was like to drown. The pain was even worse than I remembered. I tried to scream but no sound came. I could feel my body starting to burn away. I tried to fight it but it was too much. I started seeing the faces of all my friends and family - Grover, Thalia, Nico, Jason, Leo, Rachel, Frank, Hazel, my mother, Paul, Poseidon. But they faded as soon as they appeared. The pain was too much.

I could feel my body dissolving into the water. I tried to concentrate on my lower back. The same point I had used last time. I felt a faint tug and suddenly I could see clearly. I saw Annabeth standing on the shore and holding out a hand to pull me up. The pain started to decrease. I reached up to take her hand but suddenly she withdrew her hand, turned around and walked away. The pain returned and I almost gave up. But then I saw a flash of silver eyes and I remembered why I was here in the first place. I had to save Artemis. I couldn't let her die. I found new strength and fought for all I was worth. I refused to give up. I will not die!

My vision cleared again and suddenly the pain was gone. I was sitting at the base of a river. I recognized it as the Styx but I was confused. I didn't feel any pain. If anything, I felt great. I felt like I could take on anything in the world.

Then I saw her. Standing in front of at the base of the river was a beautiful tall woman with flowing black hair and dark eyes that seemed to flow like water. She was staring at me with awe and perhaps a little bit of fear.

I slowly stood up and asked, "Who are you?"

She rearranged her expression to a neutral one and said, "I am Styx. I am the personification of this river and the one who binds the oaths made in my name."

I stared at her. As far as I knew, I had never heard of the personification of Styx. I never knew that Styx was actually a person. I immediately bowed to her.

She spoke up again, "There is no need to bow to me young hero. Rise."

I straightened up and asked the question foremost in my thoughts, "What happened to me? How am I still alive? Why don't I feel any pain?" Okay so three questions.

She still looked slightly in awe as she answered me. "I do not know exactly what happened. You were somehow able to defeat my river and gain it's powers without any price. You are now immortal but in a different way. You do not have any mortal point. You have the Curse of the Styx but it is more like a blessing for you. Nothing can physically harm you now. I don't know if this is because this was your second swim in the river or because your anchor itself was immortal. It could be because of both or there could be another reason altogether. I do not know. This has never happened before."

I stared at her, dumbfounded. I was immortal again! I had the curse again but I didn't have a mortal point! Then I registered everything she had said and asked another question, "What do you mean my anchor is immortal? My anchor is Annabeth right?" Did she mean that because Annabeth was immortal, so was I?

"No. Your anchor was the daughter of Athena the first time you took the curse. This time it is someone else. A Goddess. Think. What made you fight? Why would you not give up?"

I thought about it. Then I froze. It couldn't be. My anchor was Artemis. But how? I knew we were friends or as close to friends as you can be with a maiden goddess when you're a man but still, we were nowhere close enough for her to be my anchor to this world.

But this reminded me of where Artemis was and that I didn't have time for this now.

"I must leave. I cannot waste any more time. Can I talk to you again about this? I have to figure this out.", I said to her.

She nodded and said, "You can return to this river whenever you want, these waters will not hurt you now."

I thanked her and quickly swam towards the shore. I automatically tried to use the currents to speed me up and was surprised to find that I could actually control the water. With a start I realized that I could breath too. I shook my head. That should have been my first thought.

I rocketed out of the river and jumped onto the shore, right in front of the army of monsters. Perses was walking with his back to me, towards the monsters.

The monsters all froze when they saw me. I let my anger fuel me and stomped my foot, sending an earthquake towards the army and Perses. Almost all the monsters lost their footing and were knocked around. Perses held his footing and whirled around.

His eyes widened when he saw me and he mouthed, "How?" but no sound came. Then he frowned and charged towards me with a sword. Where did he get another sword? Riptide had returned to my pocket as soon as I left the river and I somehow knew that I had my other sword as well. I really need to name it soon.

So I took out both my swords and blocked his first strike. I could feel the immense strength behind the blow but I didn't budge. Instead I pushed him back and attacked.

Perses was so surprised that I pushed him back that he didn't even block my attack. I left a huge gash on his chest. He howled with pain as golden ichor poured down his front. I didn't stop and kept attacking. He tried to fight back but he didn't stand a chance. The amount of cuts on his body increased continuously and ichor was flying everywhere.

Finally I disarmed him and held both my swords to his throat. Somehow we had ended up in the same position as before except now he had his back to the Styx. I could see fear in his eyes.

He spoke up, "Please, let me go. I promise not to hurt you. I will even fight for you if you wish. I was forced to work with Iapetus. Please!"

I hesitantly lowered my swords. As soon as I did that, he lunged. I didn't have any time to raise my swords so I kicked him in the face. He flew back and landed in the Styx. He screamed in agony and then he was below the water. I knew he was gone since no immortal could survive a swim in the Styx.

I took a deep breath and checked for any injuries. Of course I had none. I wasn't even tired.

I turned back towards the army. they were all looking at me with fear and inching back. I didn't give them a chance to run and charged. The next five minutes were a blur as I slashed, stabbed, ducked and dodged. Then I was through the army and turned back to charge again when I saw that there was nothing left except a layer of gold dust on the ground. I had destroyed the entire army in five minutes.

It was somewhat similar to the first time I took a swim in the Styx. I put away both my swords.

I took a deep breath and too off running in the direction of Tartarus. Thankfully, I had become friends with Cerberus when I came here once with Nico so I was able to pass without a problem.

I sprinted towards the entrance to Tartarus. Soon, the palace of Hades came into view. I ran past the gates to the palace.

When I reached the pit, I saw both Iapetus and Koios chanting something and standing over the chained form of Artemis. Even from a distance I could see the various bruises and cuts on her body. The sight made my vision go red.

Blocking my path was just one monster. It looked like a cross between a huge serpent and a dragon. I didn't stop running but took out the sword that I decided to name Sunflare.

The huge dragon-snake thing looked right at me and as soon as I was in range, it jumped at me with its mouth open wide as if to swallow me. Without breaking stride I jumped to the side, thought of the sun and brought down my sword as it started glowing with the power of the sun. It cut right through the hide and completely severed the head of the monster.

The body of the monster writhed around before turning to dust along with the head. I continued running towards the Titans. they must have heard the commotion because Koios turned around and a shield and spear appeared in his hands.

He stood protectively in front of Iapetus, who was still chanting, and Artemis. I could see that she was conscious and staring right at me.

Koios started to say something but I didn't give him a chance and charged straight at him as I took out Riptide as well. He got into a defensive position and waited. I lunged at him and he blocked with his shield. He actually slid back a couple of inches when he blocked. He swiped at me with his spear but I ducked under the blow and stabbed him in the thigh. He yelled and I was blown back fifty feet. I landed on my back but jumped up almost instantly.

I saw a red glow coming from the pit and I knew I didn't have much time. I charged him again, dodged his spear, kicked his shield away and stabbed Riptide right through his neck. I knew I had snapped his neck. He slumped to the ground as I pulled out Riptide and burst into gold dust as his essence returned to Tartarus.

I didn't waste any time in lunging forward and knocking Iapetus away from Artemis. I knelt next to Artemis and said, "Lady Artemis are you alright?"

I knew it was a stupid question as soon as I asked it. Of course she wasn't alright. Now that I was closer, I saw that her injuries were even worse than what I had first thought.

Artemis was just staring at me as if I was a ghost.

I tried to cut the chains holding her with Riptide but it just bounced off. So I used sunflare. I thought of the sun and it easily cut through the chains.

She suddenly found her voice and croaked, "Perseus..." She tried to speak more but apparently she couldn't. I reached for my pack to give her some Nectar and Ambrosia when I realized I didn't have it with me. I cursed under my breath. I must have lost it in the river Styx. I helped her up and asked her if she could walk.

She nodded and tried to walk but stumbled on her first step. She almost fell but I caught her.

I took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry Lady Artemis" before lifting her easily in my arms. Her eyes widened and she squirmed a bit before giving up.

I suddenly realized that I had forgotten about Iapetus but when I looked around, he was nowhere to be seen. I shook my head, he must have ran away like the coward he was.

I thought about what to do next as I walked away from the pit carrying Artemis. I didn't have any way to get out of the underworld. I thought about going to Hades' palace but I wasn't sure if he would help either of us. I was a son of Poseidon and Artemis was a daughter of Zeus.

Then it struck me. I whistled loudly and heard a loud WOOF as my faithful pet came bounding out of the shadows. I dodged as Mrs. O'Leary launched herself at me as she might injure Artemis further. I managed to get her to settle down.

Artemis was looking from me to Mrs. O'Leary and then back again. I answered the unspoken question, "Mrs. O'Leary is my pet hellhound. She's the only friendly hellhound in the world."

Then I climbed onto her back and asked her to take us out of the underworld. She jumped into a shadow and we came out in an empty field somewhere outside Los Angeles.

I slid off her back with Artemis still in my arms. It was almost sunset. Mrs. O'Leary just slumped down to take a nap.

Artemis' eyes were closed. She was either asleep or unconscious. I threw my head back and yelled, "Apollo!" at the sky.

There was a bright flash of light and the sun god was standing in front of me in all his glory.

His eyes bulged at the sight of his sister and I could see the anger in his eyes. This was probably the only time I had seen him truly angry. The only other time I could think of was during the Giant War.

He rushed forward and grasped my shoulder. We disappeared in a flash and appeared in a gold room similar to the one I had woken up in a couple days ago. I walked forward and laid her down on the bed. Then I stepped back as Apollo raised both his hands and Artemis was covered in a bright gold light.

When the light died down, she was completely healed. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Apollo staggered a bit but managed to stay on his feet.

"How is she?" I asked.

Apollo took a deep breath and said, "She will be fine. She just needs some rest. Come, we must tell the Council what happened."

He placed a hand on my shoulder and we vanished in a flash of light.

* * *

**Whew! That was a long chapter. More than 4k! It took me almost 5 hours to write!**

**A big thank you to CourtingTheMoon for the idea of Perses and Python, even though Percy didn't recognize the monster guarding the pit.**

**Also a thank you to Epithet2 for the name of the sword, Sunflare.**

**I'm grateful for all the favorites and follows and reviews and hope that you guys liked this chapter.**

**Please review about the idea of Percy gaining immortality from the Styx. I thought that up on my own and would like to know what you guys think of it.**

**R&R! :) **


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